


License to Kill

by dollfacewests



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fuckbuddies (for a lil while), Hate Sex, Jealous Barry Allen, Jealous Iris West, Sloppy Makeouts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-31 03:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13966176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollfacewests/pseuds/dollfacewests
Summary: "Alright, West. Take him out."Iris West. She doesn't have a death wish, but god damn, you'd think she did. In a world of mob bosses and always having to look over your shoulder, she has it pretty easy compared to most. She's a made woman and the daughter of the most ruthless mob boss on the right side of the Mississippi River.Barry Allen. A playboy con artist with his own mob boss for a daddy. The man, the myth, the legend. You'd think he has nine lives. He's just your average asshole who knows exactly what he wants and gets it every. single. time. But Barry Allen is about to get a wake-up call.Iris is contracted to kill Barry and of course, she's more than willing to plant that him in the ground with all her other kills.It should be easy. It should be a breeze. Killing should be like second nature to her, and Barry Allen is no different than the others.But nothing worth killing - or fucking - is.





	1. Just Another Day at The Office

**Author's Note:**

> this story is gonna have *some* time-lapses, just know that that's intentional

_"You wanna kill me, Iris? Fine. Go ahead and kill me. But you know that if you do, you won't have any chance of stopping them. We can both end this once and for all. Don't make the wrong mistake here..."_

* * *

 

  
**∙ 4 Days Before The Assignment ∙**

"Miss West, do you agree to the terms of this assassination contract?"

"I do."

It's just another day at the office for her. Take out a target, given to her by some asshole who wants them dead.

She'll kill anyone as long as the pay is good. She only has one exception: She doesn't kill children. Children are a no-no for her. Men or women, though? She's not above it.

"Alright. Call me when it's done. Once it's done, you'll be paid handsomely for your trouble. You get caught, you don't know me," the client states.

"I don't get caught," she says matter-of-factly.

The client leaves the room, leaving just her and one of her superiors.

"So, Iris, you do know that this is dangerous, right?" he states.

"Yes, dad. I do know. I've been doing this for years and you're just now telling me how dangerous this is?"

"This one is one of the more dangerous ones," he warns.

"I've killed a lot of people in my day," she shrugs.

"And somehow you sleep well at night," he chuckles. "Alright. Just so you don't forget, repeat your mission details back to me,"

"My target is Oliver Queen. He's a playboy with a lot of security, so I'll have to get close to him to kill him, which shouldn't be hard. He's paranoid so I need to play it cool and get him alone. He's armed and can be dangerous once provoked. It's best if I bring a partner, as his security never leaves his side. And the target wants me to make it look like something of a robbery gone wrong," Iris says.

"That's my girl. Now, hurry and go. I've been told they're at a huge party at some mansion in the hills. Take your partner with you, and be careful," he says sternly.

"Yeah. Got it," as she nods, Iris leaves the room.

She gets to her car and calls Linda before pulling off.

"Iris?" she hears Linda's voice on the other end.

"Hey. Meet me at my apartment. We've got a job," Iris says.

Linda groans. "Another one?"

"It's a hot guy, of sorts. Oliver Queen. You know him, right?" Iris asks.

"I know of him. That's our target?"

"Yeah. Meet me at my apartment with your best party outfit, and look like you're ready to seduce some security," Iris says, making sure no one is tailing her.

"Alright, see you in ten,"

After about five minutes, Iris gets a text on her phone.

LINDA: I'm here, open up

Iris goes to open the door and Linda is standing in her shortest dress and highest heels.

"I said get dressed for a party, not pose as a prostitute,"

"You said dress to seduce, so that's what I'm doing. We ready for this, or not?" Linda asks.

"I mean I guess, if it'll get the job done," Iris shrugs.

"Alright. Let's go. Let's take a cab," she says.

Iris nods as she grabs her things and they go.

When they arrive at the party, they can hear the loud music before they even walk up to the door.

"Kind of weird that he doesn't have a gate of some sorts, right? I mean, he is kind of a big name. And it's a little weird that just anyone is allowed in. You'd think security would be tighter than this," Linda points out from behind the bush they're at.

"That's true, but to be honest, no gate and anyone being allowed in, in all honesty, that just means that there's less security that we have to bypass. So I guess it's alright with me," Iris says.

She begins to survey the scene. "Alright, we got two guards right at the door. They're checking people if they're not celebrities. Since we're not, we're gonna get checked. Can you distract them?"

"Can I distract them? Don't play with me, Iris. Give it a couple minutes. When I say go, go," Linda says before heading off in their direction.

"Alright, let me know on the earpiece when I'm good to go,"

Linda nods as she quickly saunters up to the guards.

Iris watches, squatting behind the bush as Linda says something to the guards and they shake their heads and laugh at her.

When Iris looks back over, Linda is gone with both of the guys around the back of the house.

"Alright, Iris now's your chance," she hears Linda quietly say.

Now or never.

Iris hurries and walks into the house, all casual.

At first, Oliver is hard to spot. But in the mix of alcohol, strippers, and music, she manages to see him. He's being bombarded by girls in little to nothing on.

"Queen is having the time of  _life_ right now. He's getting ass just thrown all at him," Iris laughs a little, sneaking quick glances at him.

"How you gonna get him alone?" she hears Linda ask.

"The Iris charm. It never fails. I'll just sit here at the bar, make eye contact, give a look, and he'll be putty in my hands,"

"Alright, hurry. I snuck away from the guards and I'm waiting for you near the front of the house," Linda says.

"This will only take a few minutes," Iris says matter-of-factly.

She looks for any more security in the vicinity. There are two standing by either end of the chair he's sitting on.

There are a few looking down from upstairs, watching from the ledge.

 _Dammit,_  she thinks.  _There's someone always looking._  Who even needs six security guards?!

No matter.

Iris sits at the bar, casually waiting for Oliver to meet her gaze. He's too preoccupied with the naked girls in front of him to even realize what's going on.

She looks at him to see if she can spot a gun on him. He didn't look armed, but she figures she better be careful. He probably knows people are after him.

When he finally gets up, she turns around away from him quickly and waits for him to notice her. She puts her gloves on.

He's at the bar drunkenly asking for a drink.  _Alright, Iris, time to go to work,_ she thinks.

As he makes eye contact with her, she winks at him.

He gives a look and then comes over with his drink.

"I don't believe we've met before," Oliver says, smirking at Iris.

"We haven't," Iris says, doing her best to not gag at the smell of alcohol on his breath.

"So, pretty lady, what's your name?" he asks, leaning.

"Irene." Her alias. "And you're Oliver Queen, right?" she asks, doing her best to sound interested.

"That's me. So let me cut to the chase here, do you wanna fuck?" he asks.

"Wow, Iris. Pretty direct and upfront. This might be easy after all," Iris hears Linda chime in on the earpiece.

"We'll see," she mutters to herself.

"Sure," she says to Oliver. He takes her hand and guides her up the stairs and to the master bedroom.

She quickly takes notice of the security detail. Two are right by his door, just in case anyone tries to come in.

He stumbles into the room and she's right behind him.

As if in an instant, he has her against the wall, practically eating her face.

 _Dammit, why won't he move just a little,_ she thinks. As she's fumbling with her inner jacket pocket while kissing him, trying to get the silenced gun out is proving to be slightly difficult.

He stops kissing her for just a second to look down at what she's trying to do.

In a second, he sobers up.

"What the fuck?!" He yells.

"Shit..." she mutters to herself.

"Guards! Guards!" he's starting to go crazy. He's realized what's going on and he is  _not_  having it.

She shoots him quickly in the gut and the shoulder.

Just then, the guards burst through the door. They ran over to Oliver who was bleeding out on the bedroom floor.

"Boss, boss, what's goin' on? Talk to me," one of them said.

He was in too much pain to talk but he weakly pointed at Iris as she was fleeing out the door.

"Hey! Hey, stop!" One of the guards pursued her. The other one stayed behind.

"Linda, you need to cause a distraction right the hell now,"

"What? Why?"

"They're on to me. They only think it's just me though so do whatever you have to do, but just distract them," Iris says quickly as she's bustling down the stairs.

She's weaving in between partygoers and almost out the door until one of the guards who was originally near the door grabs her.

"Nice try, lady," he says, smirking at her, thinking he's got her. "You're coming with me."

Just then, Iris saw Linda weave through the crowd. Making sure no one was watching her, she pulled out her gun and fired a couple shots into the ceiling. No matter how drunk you are, you run like hell when you hear gunfire.

It was pandemonium. People were running out the first door they saw, screaming, there were even a few people going and hiding. As soon as the guards' attention wasn't focused on her, she kneed him in the gut and got away, with Linda a few feet behind.

They ran out of the house quickly and didn't stop until they got a safe distance away.

"What the hell happened back there, Iris? It usually is cleaner than that," Linda says, slight annoyance in her voice.

"I couldn't reach for my gun! He had me up against the wall, kissing me, and when I finally did get it out, he went apeshit and the guards burst in and I had to get out of there," Iris explains, looking for her phone.

"How do you even know you killed him?" Linda asks.

"I shot him twice. Once in the shoulder and then once in the gut. I hit a major artery so he's should be bleeding out as we speak if he's not dead already."

"Alright, I'm gonna call for a taxi again. We should have really brought a car," Linda says as she grabs her phone.

As she does that, Iris calls the client from earlier that day. "Miss West. I trust that our little issue is resolved, yes?" he asks once he answers the phone.

"Yes. It's handled. Oliver Queen is no longer a problem for you. I trust that the 'handsome' amount of money you promised has been delivered to my account?" Iris asks.

"Yes, Miss West. As we speak. Good work, and thank you. Now, lose my number and pretend you don't know me," he says and after that, he hangs up.

"Um, you're gonna give me some of that money, right? I mean, I did help,"

"I thought you don't do this for the money,"

"I don't, but getting paid is always great,"

"Well, when it's wired to my account, I'll be sure to give you some,"

Linda nods. "Iris, have you ever wanted to get out of this?"

She's confused. "Get out of this? How do you mean?"

"You know, get out of the business. Start a family, maybe have kids?"

Iris contemplates this for a minute before answering. She's not really sure if she does. "I'd never thought about it, honestly. If I were too, I could still do what I do. I love doing this."

"Yeah, maybe, but you wouldn't have to constantly always be looking over your shoulder if you stopped,"

"Actually, Linda, yeah, I would,"

"Well, why's that?"

"Because it's my family. I'm the mob boss' daughter. If I were to suddenly stop or not want to do what I do anymore, my own father would probably have me killed," Iris says, half-joking.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know him. Girl, he'd have me silenced in a heartbeat. In his eyes, if you're not with him, you're against him. He's killed family before and would not think twice to do it to me. And I've worked enough by my dad's side to know that with a man like him, you wanna be on his side. Plus, the pay is good and I get to travel to places! And all with my best friend," Iris says, trying to make it sound like a good thing.

Linda is silent for a moment. She doesn't know how to respond to that.

"Come on, lighten up! We get to kill scumbags for other scumbags and we get money for it too! And we get to do it together. The way I see it, we're living the life. I wouldn't change it for a thing."

 


	2. Did You Say...?

**• 2 Days Before The Assignment •**

* * *

Today, Iris' dad called her in early in the morning.

"I was asleep, dad. What is it?" Iris says and she walks in. She's not even fully awake yet, but duty calls, right?

A snicker from Linda. "I told you not to call her so early, Joe,"

"Be that as it may, I called both of you here this early because we've got another client who asked for Iris' services specifically, and he's not in this time zone. It's almost ten at night where he's at," Joe said.

"Alright," Iris says as she finds a chair to sit in.

"Who's the client?" Linda asks.

"He said he'd video call so he can inform you both on the job," Joe says.

"Why are you here if he only asked for me?" Iris asked.

"I wanna know about the job too. I'm gonna help and to do so, I have to know about it,"

Iris nods. Just then, they heard the Skype ringtone on the computer. "Michael. Let me project you on the bigger screen," Joe says as he answers.

When Iris and Linda saw this "Michael" they perked up a bit.

"Miss West, Miss Park. It's lovely to meet you," Michael said, smiling.

They say hello apprehensively.

"So, Michael here has a task to ask of you," Joe explains.

"Yes. There's a man that I need to be killed. He's...bad for business, sort to say. All you need to know is that he needs to be silenced -"

Iris chimes in. "Gotta stop you right there, buddy. I don't kill for no reason,"

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that information, Miss West. That's need-to-know. He's the child of a mob boss, quite like yourself. His name is Bartholomew Allen. People call him Barry. He's the heir of a huge fortune from a mob boss himself, coincidentally. I need you to get close to him, get information out of him, and then kill him when the time is right," Michael says.

"Okay, so Michael. This Barry Allen. You want me to kill him. But I need more info. What's he like? How does he act? Is he paranoid? Is he a laid back guy? Does he have any enemies? Does have any friends. I gotta know, Michael," Iris says.

"I've emailed Joe a composition of Mister Allen's life. Everything you need to know is in that file, Miss West. Now, to answer an earlier question. Mister Allen is, how you say, a very paranoid man. He does not have many people he trusts. It may take a while to gain his trust fully. But I trust that won't be a problem. Do we have a deal?"

Iris thinks over it. She's never dealt with a long-term target before. The longest was maybe for a few days. Sometimes a week. But from the sounds of this, there's no telling how long this will take.

"How much will you pay me for this?" Iris finally answers.

"I was thinking, maybe a million dollars?"

Iris' eyes widen. Linda almost spits out the water she's drinking. Joe even makes a face.

"Did you say a million?" Iris asks. She's practically fidgeting in her chair now. That kind of money will get Iris to kill the president and his wife if you want her too.

"Yes, Miss West. A million. Do we have a deal?" he asks. He's getting impatient now.

"Yes. Yes, definitely," she agrees.

"Good. I'll be in touch. I'm heading to bed now. Have a good day." And with that, the call ended.

Joe's on his phone fiddling with a few things. Iris gets an email a few minutes from her dad; it was Allen's profile.

"Michael says that you don't need to get on the assignment right away. You've got up to two days to prepare. He doesn't live here; he lives in up in the Hollywood Hills. So you get to take a trip to California." Joe explains.

Iris nods and starts to get up to leave.

"I'm going with you. You're taking me home to pack," Linda interjects and starts to move as well.

They're on their way out the door when Joe calls her back. 

"Hold on, Iris. I gotta talk to you alone for a minute," Joe says.

Linda knows what that means and heads out to give them some privacy.

"What's up, dad?" Iris asks.

"This Bartholemew. He could be really dangerous. You sure you're ready for something like this?"

"Of course, dad. I've dealt with much worse than the likes of Bartholemew Allen. This will be a cakewalk," she assures him.

No matter what she says, though, he's still worried. She's never done a job this far away from home before.

"Don't you think I can do this?" Iris asks.

"It's not that I don't think you can do it. I know you can. But I've come across Bartholomew myself a couple of times. He's shady," Joe replies.

"I've got this, dad," Iris gets annoyed a bit. She's a grown woman and her father is treating her like this is her first contract.

"I know, Iris. I know. I just want you to be careful. You're still my little girl," he said.

"I'm twenty-six,"

"Again. Little girl!" he says, laughing a bit.

"I understand. Send me that file. I'm gonna take a look at it when I get home," she says.

He nods and she leaves. Linda's out in the hall waiting.

"You ready to go?" she asks Iris once she comes out.

"Yeah. I'll take you home so you can pack. 'Cause you love to wait until the last second to pack for shit,"

"I'm a procrastinator. What can I say?" she shrugs as they leave.

As they get in the car, Linda starts being nosy.

"So what'd your dad say?" she asks.

"He just told me to be careful. But, this Bartholomew cannot be that damn bad. He can't be any worse than anyone I've dealt with in the past," Iris was confident. She kept wondering why this Bartholomew was talked so big about. Surely this will be a piece of cake.

"I don't know," Linda is unsure.

"You can't be offered a milli to just kill anyone. This guy must be important," Iris says, practically beaming at the mention of a million dollars.

"Yeah. But did you catch the way Michael was talking back there? He didn't really explain a whole lot. It was vague. And I don't really do vague," Linda says.

"True. But as long as that money isn't vague, that's all that really matters, right?"

"I guess..."

 

**• Day 1 of Assignment •**

* * *

_"You ready?"_ Iris asks Linda over the phone. Her dad is picking them up and driving them to the airport.

"Yeah,"

"Alright, we're on our way,"

As Joe is driving to Linda's, Iris is staring intently at the file on Allen.

"This has pretty much everything on him. I mean, down to the man's favorite color," Iris chuckles.

"Have you not looked at the file since you got it?"

"I had, but not that much," Iris admits.

"Well, yeah. That thing is pretty extensive."

"Almost too extensive," Iris mutters.

They pull up to Linda's and she comes out with a suitcase.

"Dude. We're going to a different state. We're not moving," Iris scolds her for overpacking.

"You're just like my mom. You both underpack. You gotta be ready for everything! Plus, we don't even know how long we're gonna be there," she says, piling her suitcase in the trunk.

"Well, you're here now. And you ain't going back to change anything. We're due to board in two hours," she said.

"That's not bad,"

"We have to get past check-in, then we have to  _be_ checked. Our things have to be checked. That process alone takes at least an hour depending on lines and exactly who you're dealing with. Then we have to actually find the gate,"

"Jeez, Iris. Chill. We'll get there." Linda says.

Iris absolutely hates being late if she doesn't have to be. It's a giant pet peeve. If you know you can be there on time, why be late?

As they finally arrive, Iris checks her watch. They've got time. Like usual, she worried for nothing.

Linda grabs her things and goes in, leaving Joe and Iris to talk.

He gave her a look. "Don't say it, Dad. I know,"

"Come here," he hugged her.

She hugged him back. "You okay? You act like I'm leaving and never coming back," Iris chuckles.

"Not to be morbid but, you may not,"  _Ouch._

_"_ I really appreciate the vote of confidence, there," she rolls her eyes a little.

"I'm being honest! For every job, you're putting a target on your back. And one day it's gonna get too big,"

"I've never been caught! My cover has never even been blown for as long as I've been doing this. Linda and I have both made sure of that. We're the best in this business. No one can put a target on someone's back when they don't know where to put the target," she says.

He nods. "Still. Just don't get hurt,"

They share a hug before Iris grabs her stuff. "Bye, Dad. I love you," she says and waves a bit.

"Love you too," he calls back just before she steps through the doors.

Iris meets Linda in line for bag-checking.

"Alright, let's do this."

 


	3. Bartholomew

After a seven-hour flight and a layover and then another two-hour flight, Iris and Linda eventually make it to Los Angeles and check into their hotel. Nothing too fancy, a three-star at least. They didn't wanna break the bank.

"Hi, we're checking in. Last name, Johnson?" Iris puts on her best polite voice.

The receptionist searches their names up and asks for their ID's. They hand them to her - the fake ones, at least - and they're good to go.

They reach their room and plop their stuff on the two beds.

"Alright, so does this Bartholomew have a schedule to his life?" Linda asks her.

"According to this," she looks at the file, "Since it's a Tuesday, Bartholomew would be at Starbucks. On forty-third and Maple. He goes to that specific one. He likes to do his work there. So, let's go see Bartholomew," Iris says.

They arrive at the Starbucks that the file said he'd be at.

They walk in and at first they don't see him. But as they look closer, they see him standing, waiting for a drink, they guess.

Sitting at a table near him are guys in suits, casually drinking coffee and occasionally looking on their phones.

"Look. That must be his goon squad near him." Iris points out.

Bartholomew looks around aimlessly, quickly making eye contact with Iris for a moment before grabbing his coffee and going to sit down.

Iris and Linda order some coffee take a seat near Bartholomew and scope him out.

"This Bartholomew guy isn't too bad looking is he?" Iris says.

"I agree. He's cute," Linda says "too bad we have to kill him," she says in a lower voice.

They watch for a few more moments as he drinks his coffee and gets up. He's boring so far, they notice.

"We sure we got the right guy? I mean, this Bartholomew guy looks like he just uses his laptop and drinks coffee all day. He's not doing anything to anybody," Linda asks.

"That's the surface. That's probably what he wants you to think. I mean, look at him, he's got a goon squad. Who just has a goon squad?"

Iris has a point. No one just has a goon squad around unless they need it.

"So, word is there is a party tonight. But it's by invitation only. Bartholomew is hosting it. The security is probably tight. So, our best bet is to sneak in and get him that way," Linda starts.

"You're on bodyguard duty," Iris interrupts.

"Why do I have to be on bodyguard duty?"

"Because that's how our partnership goes! And you are better at knocking people out. I'm good, but not better than the infamous Linda Lance," Iris laughs a little.

They follow Bartholomew out of the Starbucks as he gets up and leaves.

"What party even is this? Whose is it anyway?" Linda asks.

"According to the file I was reading earlier, apparently it's being thrown by Francisco Ramon. His close friends call him Cisco. Him and Barry are best friends. He co-invented something I forgot the name of and is now a literal billionaire because of it. He's like a Hispanic Bill Gates." Iris says, recalling what she read.

"How long have they known each other?" Linda says as they follow him and his bodyguards.

"Some years. They've been friends since college," Iris responds.

They tail him on foot until he gets into a car and leaves.

When they get back into their room, they unpack and Iris takes out all of the things they have for this assignment.

Linda was busy taking clothes out of her suitcase when she looks over and sees files on files.

"Iris, what the hell," Linda says, "Why do you have more files than clothes?"

"Because we're being paid big bank for this. If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right." She skims through all of them.

"Look, I get that we're here on an assignment, but look where we are. If we're gonna hunt a paranoid supposed criminal mastermind, let's have some fun while we're at it. Shall we?"

Iris is reluctant but agrees. They  _are_  in Los Angeles. Might as well have some fun.

They go shopping and even take a few pictures. They grab a bite to eat and go out on the town after the sun goes down.

After about eight o'clock, Iris and Linda get ready to go find Bartholomew at the party he's throwing.

They're driving there when Linda starts talking. "Why do all the people we have to kill are at open and large parties? We can't walk into a restaurant and just clip him right there?" She asks.

"I personally enjoy killing at parties the most. The rush of adrenaline, the music, the energy before and after the kill, I enjoy it all,"

"You  _enjoy_  killing?"

"Well, no. It's not so much that I enjoy it. It's more so a necessary evil. I could do without the fake IDs, and constantly looking over my shoulder, and the blood on my hands, and having to lie to everyone and keep up stories, but it's all worth it because of the money and I get to spend most of my time with my best friend. So, I take the good with the bad,"

"I would agree. But there are moments where it gets to be too much,"

"Like how?" Iris asks as they get out of the car and started the hike to the house.

They had to park it some ways away. Don't want to attract any attention in the off-chance that the mission goes south and they have to make an escape.

On their way up, they were surveying the scene. There were no escape routes near the front of the estate except for the way they came out. He probably had a backyard something that they could make a mad dash for if the time came.

If they thought killing Oliver Queen was easy, then this was going to be a breeze. No one is even getting checked at the door.  _Rookie mistake, Allen._ Irisand Linda slide their way through the door virtually undetected. Looking around, Iris realizes she's overdressed. This is a party, and she came in a gown.  _Oh well, too late now,_ she thinks.  _At least I look cute._ Linda was almost overdressed as well. Luckily everyone was too caught up in their own activities to even think about looking over in Iris' and Linda's direction.

They split up and Iris turns on her comms just in case she or Linda gets in trouble. This is house is big, so they have a ton of ground to cover. Iris hits the bar first while Linda goes closer to the living area.

This is almost like routine for her. Go up to the bar, ask for a scotch straight, and wait for some drunk asshole to come up to her. If she's lucky, it will be her target.

She looks around, making eye contact with Linda as she comes across the upstairs hallway. She looks frustrated.

"How's it coming, Lin?"

"No dice. Are we sure Bartholomew is even here?"

"He's gotta be. It's  _his_  party. You seen his friend yet?"

"Francisco? Nope. Usually, when you find one, you find the other," Linda scans the crowd from above.

"We'll find them eventually. Keep chatting people up, see what they know. I'll stick down here just in case he emerges."

_Meanwhile..._

"Alright, Barr, you ready?" Francisco is sitting on Bartholomew's bed waiting for him. He's getting ready to make his big entrance and wants his best friend by his side. Only problem is, he's taking a thousand years.

"Give me five more minutes." Barry opens the door to the bathroom and rushes out.

"Dude! You said 'five more minutes' ten minutes ago,"

"Okay, look. I've got to look good. You would too if it was your birthday party,"

"I mean, I guess,"

"People are still here right?"

Francisco goes and peeks out the door. "Yeah, there's a ton. Looks like even more people than when I went to check before," he said.

Bartholomew turns to him. "How do I look?"

"Dude. You look fine. I've been telling you that,"

"Your 'fine' and my 'fine' are two different things."

"Come on! You look good. Let's go."

They stepped out of his bedroom and went to the top of the stairs. The minute that everyone's eyes laid on them, the room rioted.

"There's our man of the hour," Linda says through her comms, laughing.

"Yeah...there he is." Iris says. Bartholomew is at the top of the stairs, Francisco by his side.  _I finally got a good look at him, and man..._

"Iris? Iris!" Linda is talking slightly louder.

"What? Sorry." Iris snaps out of it. Was she staring at Bartholomew? And if so, was it obvious?

She finally broke her gaze from the stairs and looked at Linda. She looked ready to pounce.

"You good? You clocked out for a minute there," Linda teases. "Staring at Bartholomew are we?"

_Fuck, it was obvious._

"Nah. Just deep in thought," she says, looking back up the stairs. This time, when she looked up, he was staring at her!

They stared at each other for barely a moment before Francisco's voice tore through. "People, people! Calm down. Everyone will get a chance to have their turn,"

When they came down the stairs, people parted like the Red Sea for them. Linda's and Iris' eyes followed him with every step he took. "Iris, we could take him out tonight if we want," Linda whispered.

"No. Not now,"

"What? Why?" Linda asks, confused as all get out.

"Just...no. Not yet." Iris insists.

"Alright. I'm gonna go grab a drink then," Linda says. Iris can tell Linda has more to say, but she just stays quiet.

Bartholomew goes to a seat and people are surrounding him, chatting him up. Francisco is not far, talking to a woman and laughing with her.

Iris caught Bartholomew's gaze again. This time, he kind of smiled at her. She didn't know how to respond to that, so she just turned around and pretended to look for someone. Anyone.

_Dammit, Iris. Snap out of it!_ She had to keep telling herself.

Linda's voice sounded in her ear suddenly. "If we're not gonna kill him tonight, we need to look around for something incriminating and see if we can use it as leverage."

In that moment, Iris' eyes had fallen on the back door leading to the patio. Right in front of it, though, there was a sign. In big bold font read  _"NO PARTYGOERS BEYOND THIS POINT."_

"We got action. I'm going out to the backyard to see if I can't find anything there,"

"The backyard? Yeah, 'cause he'll have something buried there," she laughed.

Iris rolled her eyes. "Well there's a sign here that says to not go out there. Way I see it, we can't rule it out."

"Oh, you should have led with that. Be careful. Let me know if you find anything," she said.

"You too,"

Now for the door. It locked from the  _outside._ She needed a key to unlock it, and she was fairly certain that either Bartholomew had it, or it was in his room. But if she went in there, she couldn't look more suspicious.

She pulls the lock pick out of her purse and fumbles with it for a little bit before it clicks and she could open the door. Taking one last look behind her, she slips out the door and into the cool night.

It's a spacious backyard, but this means more ground that Iris has to cover.

"Allen's got a real big backyard,"

"You see anything suspicious?" Linda asks.

"Nope. Just grass on grass and a little canopy area. A normal backyard." Iris said.

"Keep looking,"

"I really don't see a point," Iris was whispering. She didn't want anyone to hear. she already was here when she definitely wasn't supposed to be.

Once she passed the patio area, it was hard to see. That was the only part of the backyard that had anything.

It was so dark that she was squinting to see. The surrounding lights from other houses weren't enough to let her see without straining her eyes.

Still, though, she looks around. The whole perimeter, and there is not a thing to be found.

Until she circles back and sees a chest near the fence.

How she missed that, even she didn't know. It was in such a weird spot but it didn't matter. Lucky for her, she was concealed in darkness.

Upon closer inspection, there was a huge lock on the chest.

"Hello. What do we have here?" Iris says out loud.

"You got something?" Linda asks.

"Not sure. It's a chest. But there's a lock on it."

"Don't suppose there's a key to it near?"

"I would imagine not. Lucky for me," Iris pulls out her lock pick again, "my lock pick has never failed me."

It a couple tries, but she got it. Hurrying now, she opened the chest and looked inside. There was nothing but files. Files and a couple of miscellaneous things.

"Linda, all there is files in here,"

"Take them!"

"There's so many! I can't grab all of them and expect not to get caught!"

While Linda was talking, Iris was already going to work on the files, seeing if she could find anything of interest.

After sorting through what was undoubtedly years worth of files, she stumbled upon a thicker file. Labeled  ** _CONFIDENTIAL_**  -  ** _DO NOT DUPLICATE_** , Iris didn't even have to look in the folder to know whatever was in there was juicy.

"Got something!" She exclaimed as softly as possible.

"Great. Now come back before someone sees you!" Linda says.

"On my way," Iris says.

File in hand, she closed the chest and put the lock back on. As she prepared to stand up, she heard a voice.

"I don't think you should be back here."

 

* * *

 


	4. Personal Space

Iris froze in her spot. Whoever spoke was definitely a male. Who exactly it was, though, she wouldn't know until she turned around.

_Quick, Iris, think!_

She had to fake like she wasn't just stealing.

She smirked and turned around.

It was Bartholomew. "Miss, what are you doing out here? Did you not see -"

"Oh, fuck! Am I...am I outside?" She's giggling uncontrollably. "I was looking for the bathroom," she spoke, slurring every other word.

"Iris? You okay?" Linda was checking in at the moment.

"Out...here?" Bartholomew asked. He was obviously confused but was struggling to hold back a laugh. Iris was good at pretending she was hammered all to hell.

"Mhm," she giggled a little, responding to both Linda and Bartholomew. "You never pee'd in a bush before?" She asked. She even swayed a little.

He chuckled. "Um, if you're looking for the bathroom, walk right this way," He said, guiding her to the door.

_The file! I can't leave without that file._

"Wait! I dropped my ring over there." She said, breaking from his grasp and going back over to get the file.

"Miss, you have your ring on,"

She looked down and started laughing loudly. "You're right! I meant my necklace." She lightly pushed him. "You don't know what it looks like,"

She fell to her knees and pretended to look for her "necklace" in the grass.

 _Thank God for the darkness._  Bartholomew was struggling to see too, and because that was spot was so dark, he didn't see Iris tuck the file under her dress.

"I can't find it," she pouted. She held her stomach so that the file wouldn't be visible.

"You ready to come with me, now?" He asked.

"Yeah. My stomach hurts. Feel like I'm gonna hurl,"

"I'm telling the bartender to cut you off for the night," He said.

They reached the door and entered, and Iris didn't take her hands from her stomach.

"Did you come alone?" He asked.

"No, my friend Linda is over there," she threw her finger in Linda's direction.

He escorted her over there.

"I believe this is your friend?" Barry let Iris go but neither one of them moved yet. Iris grinned goofily at Linda.

Linda looked like she'd seen a ghost. She wasn't sure if their cover was blown. But when she looked at Iris, she winked at her. That told her that they were still good.

She looked back up at Bartholomew. "Yes. I've been looking for her all night! Thank you,"

"Keep better track of her," he said, before walking away and immediately continued his conversations.

The minute he was out of sight and earshot, Iris takes the file from under her dress and waved it.

"You sly bitch," Linda takes the file.

"I mean," Iris laughs. "What can I say? I'm good at pretending,"

"We ready to go?" Linda asks.

"Yeah. As much as I love stealing and sneaking, I'm itching to see what's in that file,"

"Alright," They head out and make their way back to the hotel room.

Once they got in, Iris and Linda take a look at the file. They read it together, with nothing popping up at first.

The file is pretty thick. The first thing that Iris sees is dossiers of Allen's former associates from years passed. She picks up the first one.

**_PATTY "THE MOOCH" SPIVOT - CONFIDENTIAL_ **

"You know of a Patty Spivot?" Iris asks, opening it up.

"Only Patty I knew was one in high school," Linda shrugs. "And her last name wasn't Spivot,"

"It says here," Iris begins to read, "that Patty was a former bookie for Allen's father some years ago. Everything was fine until Spivot started to fall for Allen..."

"Which one?" Linda snickers.

"Ew. Bartholomew," Iris chuckled. Linda picks up the picture of her and looked at it. "Yeah, no."

"What?"

"Her? With Allen? Yeah, right."

"You don't even know this girl."

"She looks annoying."

"Anyway," Iris chuckled, "Everything was fine until she started falling for Allen. He tried to reciprocate her feelings but couldn't. She was obviously bitter about this. About 6 months later, she tried to cut her losses and skip town. The Don caught up with her though, and she threatened to snitch to the cops if they didn't let her leave,"

"Rookie mistake. Every cop in the city was probably on that man's payroll."

"Yeah. So instead of killing her, they exiled her to Atlanta. She could be free to whatever she wanted, live whatever life she wanted, so long as she didn't snitch."

"Did she ever snitch?" Linda looks further down the paper.

"Nope. She's been quiet ever since."

They took a look at the next dossier.

Every dossier like Patty's was the same. Someone wanted to skip out, and they were either exiled or killed. Allen even killed one himself.

"So there's obviously a pattern," Linda speaks up once they were done.

"Why would Allen have files on former associates? Is he still keeping tabs on the low?" Iris is confused.

"Maybe just in case they decide to disobey and he has to take care of business?" Iris really has no clue.

"This makes no sense,"

"There's gotta be a way to follow him around without him knowing we're ever there," Iris says, thinking.

Iris grabs her burner and calls her dad. Maybe he could have some insight.

He picks up on the second ring. "Iris. Hey baby, you guys okay?"

"Hey, dad. We're fine, I was wondering if you had any more useful information to help us with this Allen situation," Iris says.

"What have you got so far?"

"A file on all of Allen's former associates. We triple checked all of them, but nothing popped out,"

He's silent for a little bit before finally sighing and answering. "I knew his father a while back. Real smug son of a bitch. Bartholomew might have been the one with associates, but he wouldn't have had those associates without his father approving them first. He lives back up in New York, though, so I'll go poking around and see what I can't shake down,"

"He might be with Barry when we get there. I think Michael told me he has an apartment in L.A. as well."

"Well, either way."

"That's not a good idea. He could warn him of the plan,"

"Maybe, but I have my ways of manipulation. He won't say anything if I have anything to do with it. If I want something out of Henry Allen, I will get it one way or another. Trust me on that,"

"Don't do something you'll regret. Thanks, Dad. Love you,"

"Love you. Stay safe,"

Iris hangs up. "Well, my dad said he said he'll see what he can dig up,"

"Alright, cool. I'm taking my ass to bed. I think the jet lag is hitting me hard now,"

"Right," Iris replies while changing into more comfortable clothing. "I'm going to see if I can't find a convenience store. I'm craving chocolate right now and there is not one vending machine here. I'll be back,"

"Alright, be safe," Linda says before Iris grabs her stuff and heads out.

Iris leaves out of the front of the hotel and starts taking a stroll, looking up nearby convenience stores on her other phone.

She finds one and she starts walking. The streets are illuminated in streetlights and even though it's late as hell, people are still out as if it's early.

Waling into the convenience store, she noticed that the cashier was barely awake, listening to music and chilling in his stool.

She grabs exactly what she's looking for, a Snickers, and she's on her way to the refrigerated drinks when she hears the bell ring on the door.

Someone comes in. She doesn't know or cares who it is until she saw him.

Stopping dead in her tracks, she comes face to face with the man who she'd met not forty-five minutes ago: Bartholomew Allen. But this time, he wasn't here with his entourage. He was alone. She tried to play it off like she didn't just see him. She turned right back around and pretended to look for something else just so he wouldn't see her face.

He doesn't notice her at first, but as she tries to skate past him, he does a double take and speaks. "Hey. Don't I know you from somewhere?"

She was going to ignore him, but she's the only one in there save for the cashier. She stops and half-turns. "No. No, I don't believe you do," she says. She's doing her best to not let him see her face.

"Wait a minute. Yeah, I do," he says. He turns her around slowly. For a moment, he's quiet. He's trying to place her.

"You're that girl from my party. The one who was drunk and in my backyard,"

 _Shit._ "Um, that doesn't ring a bell. Sorry," she says hastily, trying to get away from him. He pulls her back, though.

"No, wait." He pulls her back, and closer to him. "It  _is_ you! I was kind of hoping I'd run into you again."

For a moment, she just looks at him. He's still got the suit on that he had on at the party. She doesn't know how to react, mainly because she didn't think she'd see him in person again, but also because she didn't expect him to be so...handsome, up close.

She quickly snaps back into reality.  _Focus, Iris._ She pats herself down. She remembers she didn't bring her knife or gun. It didn't matter anyway. She couldn't get him here. It's too public.

"Um. Hoping you'd see me again?" She asks. She's confused. Why would he want to see her again?

"Yeah. I had a feeling I would, anyway," He says.

Iris is confused. "What? Why?"

"I just did. I can't really explain it," he says. Iris is having trouble focusing. She can't stop staring at him, and she's hanging on to his every word. "What are the odds we'd see each other again?" she asks, thinking. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were following me,"

Bartholomew smirks. "Following you. You're pretty and everything, but," he chuckles, "It's only a coincidence that we're seeing each other again,"

"I don't believe in coincidences, Bartholomew," she says.

"Bartholomew?" he laughs.

Iris is confused, but her smile doesn't falter. "Is that not your name?"

"It is. But people call me Barry. I'm rarely called by my birth name,"

"Well...Barry, as I said, I don't believe in coincidences,"

"Maybe you should," he said. By this point, he and Iris are standing very close together, foreheads almost touching. Iris hadn't moved, but Barry was the one that kept inching closer to her.

_Does he not know what personal space is?_

She didn't even notice how close they were until she looked down! But once she did, she didn't want to move away from him.

She looks back up at him. His mouth opens like he's about to say something, but Iris doesn't hear him if he does speak. She catches the slight glance at her lips that he makes. And instantly she feels embarrassed.

Barry was mesmerizing. And that's putting it mildly. She didn't know if it was his smile or the hypnotizing smell of vanilla he seemed to carry around with him, but she knew she didn't want to be away from him.

_Dammit, Iris! Focus. Get out of there._

She snaps out of it fast enough to remember that this is her target. Nothing more than another assignment. A name that she had to cross out on her list.

Without another word, she turns around and leaves the store. As she exits, she feels Bartholomew's eyes burn in the back of her, staring her down. She quickly makes her way back up to her and Linda's room, still slightly disoriented from her encounter with Bartholomew.

Right as she gets in, Linda is getting in bed and about to turn out the light. "Hey. Back so soon?" She's donned in her nightwear complete with the sleep mask.

Iris doesn't speak right away. But that alone is enough for Linda to be able to tell what happened.

"Iris. What happened? You look like you just seen a ghost." Linda sits up, wide awake now.

"I just saw Bartholomew." Iris sits on the bed, taking her shoes off.

"Allen?"

"Who else?"

"Well, what happened? Did he recognize you?"

"Of course he did. Almost right away. We spoke and everything," Iris says.

"Well, you're here in one piece so that means he didn't put two and two together," Linda says. "But that doesn't explain why you came in here looking shook as ever,"

"It's that obvious?"

"You came in here without the chocolate that you literally left to go get,"

Iris chuckled nervously. She debated on if she really wanted to tell Linda the  _real_ reason why she came back so perplexed. Linda is her best friend and while she can come to her with anything, she can't have her thinking that her head's not in the game. 

Because it is. It most definitely is. Right?


	5. In & Out

• **Day 2 of Assignment •**

* * *

Iris wakes up before Linda the next morning. She checks both of her phones, the burner and the regular. She had no notifications, as per usual, and set both of them down.

She'd decided to lie to Linda last night. She figures that maybe that feeling she had was just that. A feeling. It was a one-time thing; she was sure of it. No use in talking about something that isn't really worth talking about.

Still, though, the fact that she felt that feeling at all shocked her. Was it the way he was looking at her? Was it the faint scent of his cologne? She can't tell.

Linda turned a little in her bed. Now facing Iris, she lifted her sleep mask up from her eyes and squinted at her. "Good morning, Iris," she said sleepily.

Her hair was a mess. "Morning, sleepy head," Iris says, smiling.

"So, what's next in Operation: Killjoy?" Linda asks.

Iris is confused.  _Operation: Killjoy?_ "What?" She asks aloud.

"Killing Allen," Linda said. "That's what I named this mission in particular,"

"Oh! Well, I guess," she looks at her watch, then the file under her pillow, "We hit up his favorite breakfast joint." She sets the file down.

"Did - did you just pull that file from under your pillow?" Linda squints.

"Sure did. Also got a gun under here in case shit goes down. Can't ever be too prepared, especially in our line of work,"

Linda nodded, agreeing. "What exactly are we killing him for again?"

Iris opened her mouth, but she really didn't know. That Michael person - if that was even his real name - told them that Allen was "bad for business" but that's pretty vague. Iris usually doesn't kill unless it's for a legitimate reason, but after she heard the amount of money he was willing to pay for his death, Iris heard nothing but "Dollar dollar bill, Y'all."

"I guess I don't really know. But does it really matter? I'll kill any scumbag for a million dollars," Iris shrugs.

"I suppose," Linda half-agreed.

Iris took a look at the file. "According to this, Barry also usually visits his dad every Wednesday of the week after breakfast. Doesn't say what goes on in those visits, though." Iris closes the file.

"This is the perfect opportunity to possibly grab some dirt on him, you know,"

"True. Let's go." Iris closes the file and they get ready to go.

When they get there, they're parked across the street from the apartment complex. It's in a rundown area, like the projects.

"Why would Allen wanna hole up here? This place is... a dump." Linda says, choosing her words carefully.

"Would you expect a mob boss to be here?" Iris asks. To Henry's credit, he's got the right idea.  _The more you conceal yourself, the better._

"I suppose so. Ready to plant this bug?" Linda asks, looking down the road for Barry's black Benz to come rolling in.

Iris takes it. It's so small, barely the size of her finger. Surely, no one would notice.

"Ready," she starts to get out of the car. "If Allen rolls up before I'm done, let me know,"

"Gotcha," Linda says.

Iris goes up to the apartment building. She remembers that Henry's apartment building was on the fifth floor, apartment 5D.

She walks in and immediately is thrown off. The wallpaper on the wall is peeled to all hell. The paint on the ceiling is so water-damaged that it's a pretty tinted shade of brown. The whole building is virtually silent.  _Does anyone even live here?_

The only sounds that came were the creaking of the old floorboards and the  _ding!_ of the elevator coming down.

Every now and then she hears a leaky pipe. As she rises floors, the feeling of being watched overtakes her. She calms her nerves, though, telling herself that if it comes to a head, she'll be alright.

_Chill out, Iris. You're good. Get in, plant the bug, get out._

When the elevator stopped and opened, she stepped out slowly. Down the long, hazy brown hallway, there was the occasional muffled dog bark. A random slam of a door startled her.

If it weren't for the fact that it was light outside, this would look like something straight out of a horror movie.

She finally gets down to the door with the faded "5D" on the door. She walks up slowly, so as to not be heard. She leans up against the door, testing to see if she can hear other voices in the apartment.

She doesn't hear...anything. She listens a little more and is about ready to push open the door with how hard she's leaning on it, but still, nothing but silence.

"Linda, are we sure Allen and his dad are here?" Iris speaks finally, whispering.

"What? Yeah, of course, he is. That's what the file said. Is there anyone there?"

"No! I can't hear anything," Iris isn't sure of what to do. She was prepared to not go in, but if there's no one home, why not?

After a bit of thinking, Iris speaks again. "Okay, Linda. New plan. I'm going  _in._  Watch for Allen and his father." She puts some gloves on and takes her lockpick out, ready to unlock the door.

"Gotcha. Keeping my eyes peeled," Linda says, looking around and out of her binoculars every now and then. 

Iris picks the lock in a few seconds. Once she opens the door, she steps in apprehensively. With a quick glance around the room, she finds that there are no cameras or anything. "Okay, Linda. I'm in."

"Okay. You're still good from my end. Plant the bug, and get out of there. This place gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, how do you think I feel? It's too silent in here. I can hear my own heartbeat," Iris says, still talking low. It's so quiet that she's afraid if she talks using her normal voice, she'll be too loud.

As she's looking around, she finds files everywhere, and even a little bulletin board. There's so much on it that Iris can't spend all her time staring at it.  _Focus, Iris._

She finds a coffee table and plants the bug there. "Okay, Linda. Bug is planted,"

It's still quiet outside - too quiet. Cars occasionally are coming and going, but no one is outside and Linda is increasingly getting more and more worried with each passing minute.

"Okay. Come on and -"

"No. I'm gonna look around for a little. There's some...stuff here,"

"More files? Jesus..."

Iris glances around and quickly skims through the files. She comes across a lonesome file with no marking on it. As she opens it, she skims through and sees nothing but pictures. Pictures of...

"Dad?"

Linda is confused. "What? Iris, you okay?"

"This file here. Has pictures of my dad. Some of these were taken as far back as last year. And I'm in a few of them," Iris says, shocked. 

"What?! They know? But that's impossible..."

"Unless Allen's father and my father know each other, still. I mean, I know he said he knew him from before, but this...this makes no sense. I've gotta take this,"

"Iris! No. No, no, no. You already stole files from Barry. Surely Papa Allen is gonna know something is up,"

"Well, I can't just leave it here, Linda. I need answers," 

"Well, you can't get them today." Linda perks up in her seat.

'What? Why?"

A black Mercedes pulls up and two gentlemen step out of the car. First out is a young man, followed by an older man who looks to be his father. Linda pulls out her binoculars. "Linda? You there?"

Her suspicions are confirmed. "Iris, get out of there. NOW. Barry and his dad just pulled up."

"What?!" Iris says. Barry and Henry are already in the door on their way to an elevator.

"Iris. You have to get out of there right now. They're on their way up,"

"Okay, okay. I'm taking the elevator -"

"No! Are you crazy? They're on their way up via elevator. Take the stairs, If Barry sees you again, and here, your cover will no doubt be blown."

Iris stares at the file a moment longer. She could take it, and get her answers now, or she could leave it.

"Iris!" Linda snaps her back to reality.

She snaps out of it and hurries and leaves the apartment. Closing the door behind her. She couldn't lock it; hopefully, no one notices.

Iris gets down the hallway. She sees the stairs and has started down them just as the elevator opens to let the Allens out.

"I'm on my way. Get the car running."

Barry and Henry step out of the elevator and they get down to Henry's apartment. "God, Dad. Do you have to live in such a dump? All the money we got, you could be sitting prettier than you are."

"My dear boy, you just don't know nothing about running a mob do you?"

"Well, sure I do, but -"

"If I lived in some swanky mansion with a giant gate in Bel-Air, it would be so easy to clip me, with all the motherfuckers that want me dead,"

"It's easy to clip anyone if they're not careful,"

"Not the point. I just don't wanna live in one, alright? Not my style." Henry takes out his key and starts to turn the lock to get in. As he pushes, he's confused. 

"Did you just lock it?" 

Henry doesn't respond, trying the door again, and this time, getting it open. Once they're in, Barry closes the door behind them and sits on the couch. 

He breathes in. "It smells like lavender in here," 

"Lavender?" Henry just laughs. But then he smells it too. 

Meanwhile, Iris is a few feet from the car. She gets back in and immediately Linda hands her a headset so they can listen in on the Allens.

"Dude, what the hell did you find in there?" Linda asks.

"I saw a file with just pictures and pictures of my dad. There were some notes here and there but I couldn't read them in time. Some of them had a timestamp that went back as far as a year ago. I was in some of them." Iris tries to recall everything she saw.

"Why would the Allens have a file on your father? There's no way they know about the assignment. We just got it, like, two days ago." Linda turns up the radio so they hear the audio from the bug she just planted. 

"I don't know, Linda! Maybe Barry's dad and my dad know each other? Fuck all if I know," Iris shrugs. 

"Look, we can worry about that later." Linda gestures back to the radio they were listening too.

"So, son, how was your party last night?" Barry's dad asks.

"Uneventful, if I'm being honest," Barry said.

"What was the party even for? It's not your birthday for months."

"Cisco just loves to party. I do too. I also love to get drunk and fuck,"

Iris and Linda exchanged looks. "Classy," Iris mutters.

Barry speaks again. "I did see this one woman, though. She was...very, very attractive."

Iris' face started to flush.  _Oh, God. Is he talking about me? No. No way..._

"Really?" they hear his father speak again.

"Yeah, but she was drunk. And in my backyard." Barry chuckled.

_Dammit!_

Linda looks at Iris. "Looks like you left quite the impression on Mr. Allen," she teases. 

_Mr. Allen._

Iris does her best to muster up a laugh, but secretly she's embarrassed and even a little...flattered? Iris definitely was a sight to behold last night, but she didn't think she'd left any lasting impressions on anyone, especially the likes of the very man she's supposed to kill.

After Iris and Linda sit and listen for another hour, they don't hear anything of interest and decide to put away the radio and headphones for the day. 

With the rest of the day to themselves, they figured that they could do whatever they wanted. It's Los Angeles. Anything is possible.

* * *

  **• Back at The Allen Residence... •**

"Dammit, Dad. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a grown man. I can take care of myself." Barry was raising his voice at his father.

"You better fix your tone," Henry said sternly. "Now, listen. I don't care how old you are. Do something good with your life, understand? This life...this life isn't for you."

"I've been going too long to stop now. Trust me, we're in this for the long run."

It was a classic case of Barry's dad telling him yet again that this life wasn't for him. He didn't wanna hear it, though. Barry Allen knew who exactly he was. And he wasn't about to let anyone, even his own father, convince him otherwise. "I appreciate your concern, Dad. I do, really. But this...this is what I do. I lie, steal, kill, and all in the name of the business. It's just the way it is. I don't have it in me to think otherwise."

Without another word, Barry left his father's apartment. On his way down the elevator, he got to thinking about his party last night. Everything was great. He had his best friend there, he got wasted, and he even got him some pussy, as far as he could bother to remember.

If he thought too hard, he got a banging headache.

After last night, he swore he never wanted to touch a bottle of scotch again. But Barry knowing Barry, he knew that wasn't true.

The one thing that his mind kept drifting to that night, was that strange girl he found in his backyard. He even thought about her while he was fucking that random girl whose name he doesn't quite remember...

As he got to the car and got in, his memory then flashed back to the convenience store. Same girl, but now dressed down, in pajamas and a bonnet. And yet, she was just as beautiful as she was in the gown she wore just hours prior. 

Barry smirked at the thought of her. She was a feisty one. Lucky for her, that's just his type. 

"Barry." He heard Cisco say his name and was brought back to reality.  

"Yeah. Sorry. What's up?" He answered, pretending like he wasn't just daydreaming.

"Dude. You totally checked out for a minute, there." Cisco chuckled. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about what happened last night."

"What happened last night?" Cisco asked as he drove off.

"Remember when I went into the backyard and found that random girl?"

"Sure. You were practically drooling the minute you laid eyes on her, but sure, I remember."

"Drooling? Fat fucking chance."

"You think I'm blind, Allen? You saw her, and you just about undressed her with your eyes. And, she sure as hell was returning the favor."

"What? No. That's not true." Barry said aloud. But in his mind, Barry actually got...excited? Or was that just his dick talking for him again? 

"Which thing?"

"Both. I mean, she was hot or whatever, but damn near every girl was. I was drunk and high. Anything looks good when you're under the influence. But, she was not worth the undressing of eyes, if I were to do that. Not that I would, 'cause that's weird, -"

"Barry. You're rambling again, man. I get it. You don't want me to think you were attracted to someone who you're probably never even gonna see again."

"Why would I be attracted to her then? If I'm so-called never going to see her again,"

"Because. You _want_ to see her again."

Barry sat back and was quiet for the rest of the ride. His headache was getting him again.  _I just want some Advil and some water._

He really didn't know where Cisco was taking them, but fuck all if he cared. 

Of course, what Cisco just said was playing over and over in his mind. God, he loved and hated it when he was right about these things.


	6. Keep 'Em Coming

After a whole day of shopping and spending money, Iris and Linda took to the beach and spent the rest of their day there. Every now and then, random guys would come up to them and talk to them, and try to hit on them. One even asked them for a threesome. 

But they were pretty sure  _that_ guy was drunk. Or high. Maybe both.

They're suntanning right by the shore when Linda looks over. "Iris," 

Iris, in her own little world, looks over at Linda slowly. "What's up?"

"So, I didn't think it would come to me having to ask you this, but, what really happened last night?"

Iris' stomach instantly dropped.  _Fuck._ She knew that it was obvious that she was lying to Linda last night, but she hoped she would just drop it and leave it alone. 

She didn't even know why this was bothering her so much. It wasn't even that big of a deal. She'd been attracted to her targets before. She's had targets that were physically attractive before, so this shouldn't have been any different. 

But somehow, it was. 

She finally opens her mouth to speak. "What do you mean?"

Linda cuts her a look. "Come on now, sis. You know what I'm talking about. Last night."

"I'm - I'm not -"

"You said you saw Barry. But you definitely were shook about it because you came back without the chocolate your purpose was go get, and then you lied to me about it. So what  _really_ happened?"

"Well, we were talking - innocent enough at first, - and he just got really up close and personal. He smelled  _so_ good, Lin. And looked even better. I had seen him last night at the party and honestly, he was looking good then, too, but seeing him up close like that, I didn't expect him to take my breath away like that." Iris was starting to ramble.

Linda just looked at her for a moment. Iris felt her face get warm.  _She is judging the absolute fuck_ _out of me right now._

It was a minute before Linda opened her mouth again. "Seriously? You got a crush on Barry?!" She said.

She didn't seem upset. More like, playful. 

"Hold on, I'm gonna stop you right there. It is not anywhere near a crush. Just a simple case of attraction. Never stopped the mission."

"That may be true. But, don't you trust me? I'm your best friend, Iris. Plus, this isn't the first time you've been attracted to a target."

Iris nods. "He just...fuck. I don't know. It was different last night. That encounter just seemed..." Iris pauses for a moment, looking for the right word to say.

"Planned?" Linda asks. 

"No. Not planned. It seemed different. I don't know why or how to describe it, but it did."

"It seems like you have made quite the impression on one other." Linda gave her a look.

She got what Linda was hinting at. Iris couldn't let her mind go there. He is a target. Nothing more, nothing less. "Yeah. But all this is is just a case of me having to get close to my target to kill him when the right opportunity presents itself."

"Something tells me that you're not complaining too much about that 'closeness' bit of it," 

"I'm not at all, really,"

"So why did you lie to me? I'm a little hurt,"

"Well, because I couldn't have you thinking my head wasn't in the game. Because it is. I just didn't think there was anything to tell, honestly,"

"Sis, there is always something to tell. That's what I'm here for. You shouldn't think for even a second you can't trust me. We've been through far too much." Linda started to get up.

Iris felt bad. She feels bad about lying last night, too. But it seemed like if she came clean about it, it would seem like she wasn't focused. Iris West is always focused.

She can't start slipping up now just because a hot target who smells like vanilla, has a sickeningly charming personality, and practically made her melt with just one look, while also not having even the slightest idea what personal space is, interacted with her. 

This is nothing new for her.

"I know, Linda. And I'm sorry. But you're thinking about this the wrong way. We heard how he was talking to his dad. He gets around." Iris makes a face when she says that.

"Maybe. But there's no doubt he wants to get with you, too,"

"Well, I don't wanna get with him. I mean, I'll do it for the sake of the mission, but -"

"- but, nothing. Deep down, you know you want him deep in your guts,"

Iris shoots Linda a look. "What? No! That's nowhere near the truth." 

"I don't know who you think you're trying to convince with saying that, but it ain't me. I am too intuitive. It's a blessing and a curse." Linda starts to stand.

Iris rises with her. She decides not to try and fight Linda on this one, this time around. Unfortunately, she's right. But, maybe not quite as right as she wants to be.

They walk back to their hotel and get back to their room. "I feel like drinking," Iris says. "I feel like sleeping." Linda counters.

"I'm gonna go down to the bar." Iris sits her stuff down and grabs her headphones.

By now, Linda is face down on the bed. "Took a day, but the jet-lag finally hit me. I'm gonna proceed to sleep for the rest of the night," 

Iris chuckled. "Alright. I'm downstairs if you need me," she grabs her wallet and heads down.

She got down and saw the bar and dining area was virtually full. There were some sitting by the bar talking, and then there were some who were very obviously flirting with each other.

Iris saunters over to the bar. "Do you guys have any After Shock back there?" 

The bartender nods. "On the rocks," Iris says, laying down a few bills. 

He looks at her for a moment, laughs, and takes the bills. "What's so funny?" she asks. 

"After Shock gets you drunk very fast. I'm obligated to warn you,"

"Don't worry about me. I can handle it," Iris says with a determined tone of voice. 

The bartender makes her the drink and she sips it slowly. Her first sip burns the back of her throat. She takes it down, though.  _I should have mixed it with something._

She took her normal phone down with her, so she was scrolling through all the things on social media she missed and things like that. 

"Another one, please," Iris said to the bartender. She wanted to get drunk tonight. She was in a good mood, she'd had a good day with her best friend, everything was amazing.

The bartender slides her drink down to her and she downed it in seconds. By the time it was down, already, she was buzzed. But, buzzed was nothing to her. 

As she continued to be on her phone, she felt a new presence beside her. She saw an arm come up behind her and reach for the bar, about to sit next to her. 

"This seat taken?" The voice asked. 

Iris just shakes her head, not really paying attention.

The person sits down and when Iris finally looks up, she nearly drops her phone.

"Bartholomew?"

Bartholomew casually looks over at her. "Hey, you're that girl from the party. I thought I recognized you,"

Iris was stunned.  _Him?! Here?! NOW?! Seriously..._

"I was just visiting a friend, and I decided to come down and drink a little," Iris said just as casually.

Even though the bar area was fairly cool, sitting next to Barry made Iris feel especially warm. She didn't know why...

He then got closer to her and spoke again. "It's a little loud in here. We should go someplace quieter," 

Iris gets up and nods. They exit the bar and go outside, where it's much quieter and cooler.

When they finally get outside, Iris speaks again.

"So, Bartholomew. Following me again, are you?" 

Barry smirks at her. "Aww. Don't you think it's just a  _little bit_ of a coincidence that we're seeing each other, yet again?"

"I thought I told you that I don't believe in coincidences."

He inches closer. _Keep it cool, Iris._ "Oh, that was you, huh?"

That vague scent of vanilla hit her nose once more and she all but caved right there. His eyes hipnotized her. His lips called for her. She wanted nothing more than to just let him have her...

_Focus on the matter at hand, dammit._

Iris smirks at him back. "Don't pretend like I didn't leave a lasting impression on you, Bartholomew."

By now, they're standing closer together than they originally started.

Iris sneaks a glance at his lips.  _So soft, so pink, so..._

She shakes herself out of it. What the hell is going on? It's just a simple conversation. Why in the fuck is she feeling like this? Is she really that sexually deprived?

He's not even that attractive to her.

Right?

_I mean, he's not ugly, but..._

"It seems I've left a lasting impression on you too," Barry speaks again. He had that tone of voice about him that made him seem...cocky. Iris hated his cockiness. Parading around like he was hot shit. _He thinks he's the best at everything, doesn't he?_

But the very thing she hates most about him entices her at the same time.

But she wasn't gonna let him have that satisfaction with ease.

"Lasting impression, huh? Hardly," Iris says, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Funny you should say that," he replies with a chuckle. He gets closer to her and whispers in her ear.  "I could leave one if you let me,"

His voice right in her ear shoots chills down her spine.  _God, if he sounds like that, I wonder how he sounds when he's..._

"We have got to stop meeting like this, Barry." Iris steps back a little.

With that step back, though, he only comes closer to her. "I saw the way you looked at me at the party. And, I saw you glance at my lips just now. You are not slick, honey. You want me. I know you do,"

Iris had to remember that this was a mission. She was assigned a target. She has to kill him. But, maybe just one quick fuck could tie her over...

_No._

It was an internal struggle. Her morality battling it out with her desires. She wanted to treat him just like every one of her other targets, but she couldn't. Because he's not like everyone else, for some reason.

"Don't be scared. I don't bite unless of course, you want me too."

She doesn't say anything, but her face must give away her thoughts because he smiles that million dollar smile yet again.

_If I don't get out of here right now, this will turn into a booty call. And I can't have that._

Iris never wanted to actually sleep with a target. She only ever did it as an absolute last resort. She avoided it at all costs if she could help it, though.

This one, though...this one might have to be an exception. 

She toys with the idea of it. _It would be fun, wouldn't it?_

She finally speaks again, this time with a smirk. "It's not that easy, Bartholomew. Nice try, though,"

"I actually can't tell if you're joking or not," he looks at her. 

"I'm not. You have all these girls just rush to you and are absolutely swoon over you. You think that I'm just like all these other girls who drop to their knees and suck your dick the minute you spare them a second look. Well, I'm nothing like that. You're not even that attractive. You're just nice to look at."

She's trying and convince him - and herself - that she didn't want him. She has to remind herself that Barry is a target. Nothing more, and nothing less. He's just another name she has to erase and another life she has to take that wouldn't - or at least, shouldn't - make a difference. There are one million dollars riding on this whole thing. 

Barry is taken aback by her words. She's right; she  _didn't_ fall to her knees and be all swoon over him. But somehow...that only makes him want her more. 

"You think you're hot shit, don't you Allen? You parade around like you own everyone and you can just make the panties drop at the snap of a finger, huh?"

Barry doesn't respond with words. He only nodded. He felt like that was true, and there was no doubt that it would happen with Iris as well as everyone else, if not now, then eventually.

Iris steps closer to him. Even in her heels, their height difference made Iris have to look up at him. From where he was standing, it made her so innocent, even with the hostility in her eyes. And it only turns him on to her even more. 

"Well, I'm here to tell you that you're wrong about that. And if you think for a second that I would ever sleep with you, you're beyond wrong." Iris says. 

With that, she pushes past him and goes back to the hotel. He didn't chase after her, because she made it clear that she'd had enough for the night. But Barry knew better. She wanted him, and he wanted her. Her criticizing him and being spot-on about it was something that Barry had never experienced before. He hated it and loved it at the same time. It only made him want her more. 

The sexual tension between them was ridiculously obvious and it took everything he had to not shut her beautiful ass up with a kiss. 

He wanted nothing more than to attack her with his affections, romantic and otherwise. Clearly, though, she was playing hard to get. 

It was okay, though. Because Barry Allen wanted her, and Barry Allen  _always_ gets what he wants. 

* * *

  **• Day 3 of Assignment •**

_Iris woke up in an unfamiliar room. The lights were dim. Surprisingly, she didn't panic._

_But this didn't feel right._

Where the hell am I?

_She sat up and it was then when she realized that she was under the covers...and completely naked._

_"What the hell?" she asked herself aloud._

_"Linda?" Iris called out, hoping Linda would appear from around the corner._

_"Au contraire, Iris," Bartholomew appeared around the corner from the bathroom, in nothing but his boxers._

_Her eyes immediately fell on his body. His chiseled abs. His bulge._

_He was...beautiful to look at. And even that was putting it mildly._

_"Barry?" Iris was shocked. It didn't take her long to put two and two together realize that they had just had sex._

_"You sure are beautiful, you know that?" He comes over slowly and sits down by her. She feels her face get warm._

_She doesn't know why she's nervous, because he's obviously seen her naked before...but somehow he still has that effect on her._

_For a moment, she just looks at him._

_He comes closer to her, and she feels her heartbeat rise._

_"But...how -"_

_He quickly shut her up with a kiss on the lips._

_The minute she felt his lips on hers, so soft, so gentle, yet so demanding, she calmed down._

_Nothing in the world mattered except that very moment._

_What started out as a kiss quickly turns into more as he leans into her and pushes her down with nothing but his body. He stops kissing her and brings his mouth down to her neck._

_His soft kisses and licks on her neck combined with the caressing of her body by his hands left chills down her spine. It was like he knew her body; knew her sweet spots and just how to trigger her in the best possible way._

_She didn't want him to stop. She wanted him to keep kissing her, keep touching her. She didn't want there to be a moment where their bodies weren't touching._

_Even when she faintly attempted to push him off, her efforts were futile. She knew she wanted him, but even in bed, Iris is one to play hard to get._

_She couldn't get enough of him, and he knew it. And she wanted him to take advantage of it._

* * *

_**10:24 a.m.**_  

Iris shot awake in bed, covered in sweat. She threw her blankets off of her and laid still for a moment after. 

"Um...good morning?" Iris hears Linda's voice. She turns her head and sees Linda with a bowl of cereal, slowly crunching away and no doubt silently judging her.

"Hi. Sorry. Was I sleep talking again?" Iris asks. 

"Try sleep-moaning," Linda laughs. 

Iris shot up. "What?!"

Linda laughs some more. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But that reaction suggests that you were having a dream of some sort."

"I think I was having a wet dream," Iris says admittedly.

"About?"

"Barry," They both say at the same time.

"I would ask how you know that, but I guess that would be a dumb question." Iris stands up and goes to the restroom.

Linda follows, standing in the doorway while Iris takes a piss.

"It would be. I don't think you wanna know the specifics," Iris chuckles nervously. 

"Spare me this time around. But I wanna know the next time,"

"Next time? There won't be a - "

"Oh, yes there will be. I'm a little disappointed in you, dude,"

"What? What did I do?" Iris stands up and flushes the toilet.

"Falling for a target. You know that never ends well," Linda says.

"First of all, I haven't fallen for him. Just because I want him to rearrange my cervix doesn't mean that I've actually fallen for him. Big difference," Iris says.

'You need to stop, Iris. Even if all you are is fuckbuddies, one of you can easily catch feelings for the other and then we'd have a bigger problem,"

Iris shrugs. "If he does, it won't affect me. And I wouldn't anyway, so..."

"I'm just sayin'. You should be careful," Linda says.

Iris nods and sits back down on the bed. She grabs the file from underneath her pillow and looks at it some more. 

According to the file, on days like today, he usually stays at home during the day but goes out for a night on the town once the sun goes down.

"Looks like we're crashing a club - or three," Iris says aloud to Linda.

"Another one?" Linda groans. "We  _always_ do clubs. I'm trying to switch it up. We've never robbed a bed-and-breakfast before,"

Iris laughs. "You make a good point. But it's way more fun to crash a club than a bed-and-breakfast. Plus, is it  _really_ our fault that all our targets are people who live to party until they don't know their names?"

Linda rolls her eyes. "I guess not. What else does it say?"

"That's it really. He has three favorite clubs, so we have our pick, I suppose. One of them doubles as a strip club, so I guess that'll be fun," Iris says, with anything _but_ excited laced in her words.

”What are they?” Linda asks.

“Bootsy Bellows, Nightingale Plaza, and AV. He frequents all three and from what this says, Bootsy is the one that's also a strip club."

Iris stopped talking for a minute and read the file some more. According to what Michael pieced together, Barry isn't just going there to get some pussy; he's meeting someone. And it's Patty.

"He's meeting Patty," Iris says. 

Linda scoffs. "That girl? What for?"

Iris reads some more. "Apparently, she's giving him something." She reads a little more. "Hush money," 

They're both confused. "Why would Barry need hush money? Isn't he already loaded?"

"He must know something important. Or...he  _will_ know something important. If it got out, somebody could be in a world of trouble."

"We need to get to the bottom of that something. If we know it, maybe we'd finally have something on him,"

"Sounds like a plan. You wanna take it this time?"

"What do you mean?"

"Getting the information out of Allen, talking to him -"

"Oh no no no," Linda laughs, "I know you would much rather do it. You got it," she smirks at the end of her sentence. 

Iris rolls her eyes. "Sure, Lin. Whatever you say."

* * *

_**9:57 p.m.** _

Linda and Iris get dressed and get ready to go.

Iris decided to pack her knife and gun with the silencer just in case things went south. She puts her earpiece in her ear and starts to curl her hair.

Linda grabs her knives and gun too. "Iris, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what's up?" 

"Try not to drool over Barry too much,"

Iris scoffs. "Drool? Girl, please. If anything, he's gonna be drooling over me,"

"So you admit you want him too,"

"No, I'm just saying that if anyone is going to drool over anyone, it would definitely be him over me,"

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because Barry wants to fuck anything walking. I do hear that he wraps it up, though,"

"Who told your ass that?"

"I do my own digging," Iris shrugs, chuckling.

"Bet you're gonna take advantage of that, huh?" Linda teases.

"Dude! Stop thinking that I'm gonna fuck Bartholomew. I want nothing more than to just spy on him, get our intel, and clip him when the time is right,"

Linda doesn't speak for a minute. She sets her mascara down. "Iris, I know you. You can tell me all you want that you don't want to fuck him, but I know you do, and I think you do too. You know I don't judge you, and I won't start now, but you need to be careful. If and when you start fucking with Barry, it could bring have a lot of unwanted attention. You've got to remember the plan, here."

"I appreciate you saying that, honestly. But you don't have to worry about me. I got this,"

Linda nodded. "I trust your judgment,"

She sets her curler down. "Thank you. Ready to go?"

"Yeah. We still have some more bugs from the other day. I'm gonna try to get close to one of Barry's people and see if I can't plant the bug on him."

Iris nods. "Sounds like a plan," she grabs her things and is right behind Linda when she walks out the door.

On their way down the hallway to the elevator, Linda turns to Iris. "So, which one are we going to, first?"

"Nightingale. If he's not there then we're going to AV, and then Bootsy. I have a feeling he'll be at Bootsy's, but we have to look at all of them just to be sure. Lord knows he loves him some pussy,"

Iris and Linda caught an uber to the first club, Nightingale Plaza.

This was just the first part of what they could both tell would be a long night of dealing with booze, bitches, and most importantly, Bartholomew.


	7. Slight of Hand

Linda and Iris were there all of five minutes and things were already jumping.

The line to get in was out the door and even wrapped around the building a little, and the smell of alcohol wafted out the building doors. The line consisted of girls in far-too-short dresses and guys with outfits that either tried too hard or didn't try hard enough.

"We definitely don't have time for this line. Wanna find a backdoor to sneak in?" Linda asks as they approach the door.

"I got that. If you can distract the bouncer, though..." 

"Way ahead of you," Linda says. 

Iris takes off behind the building and after a bit of maneuvering, she sees a couple of doors. One of them is locked, but the other one isn't! She tries it and it leads to the back of the room, far away from the main door. "Alright, Linda, I got an opening. Come on back." She whispers so as to not gain too much attention.

Not too long after, Linda appears and is ready to go in with her. 

They get in without arousing much attention and they quickly scan the crowd.

"It looks like Barry isn't here. I'm gonna go deeper into the crowd and see if I can't find him grinding on some random girl," Linda said louder. 

Iris simply nodded and made her way to the bar while Linda did her thing and searched through the crowd. 

After about ten minutes, Linda found Iris again at the bar. "You get anything?" Iris asks loudly.

"Nothing. Barry definitely isn't here. I even checked the restrooms,"

Iris laughed. "You checked both of the restrooms?"

"Hell yeah. Gotta do what you gotta do. A bunch of drunk guys who don't even know left from their right definitely were more than happy to see me stroll up in there. I got catcalled like a motherfucker. But I tuned it all out. Regardless, Barry isn't here. Let's bounce," Linda said and walked away from the bar. 

Iris followed suit right out the club doors and called an uber to go to their next destination, Bootsy Bellows.

When they finally got there, the music was even louder, and the smell of alcohol was even stronger. 

The line was longer than Nightingale's, but it was actually moving fairly fast, so Iris and Linda decided to stand in it. 

Within another ten minutes, they were flashing their IDs and were then thrust into the loud, thumping party. 

"Alright, Iris. You got this one. Say something if you need me," Linda says. 

Iris nods and they part ways.

For a while, all she sees is random guys and girls grinding on each other. She figured Barry would be sitting on one of these couches, either enjoying the view of one of the girls or sticking his tongue down one of their throats.

_But I can care less about that right now. Where in the hell is he?_

Between the faint smell of weed and the more than overwhelming smell of Vodka, Iris managed to actually find Barry sitting on a couch with some other guys and he was on his phone. He seemed distracted by whatever he was doing.

She tried not to appear obvious that she was spying on him. He's already seen her three times and there's no doubt in her mind that he will recognize her the minute he lays his eyes on her. 

"I see him, Lin." Iris says, turning away.

"Damn, that was fast. Well, whenever you're ready," Linda said. Iris looked around to see where Linda was. She was on the second floor, looking down from the ledge right at Barry as well.

Iris sits at the very end of the bar, occasionally sneaking glances at Barry.  _I need to dance. I can't be out here sticking out like a sore thumb..._

Just as she started thinking that, Barry hopped up out of his seat. She saw a girl pull him by his collar and up on to the dance floor. He didn't even know who this girl was, but that wasn't about to stop him.

They quickly went from dancing together, to basically fucking on that dancefloor. They weren't different from any other couple down there, but seeing another girl on him like that, made her feel...

"Iris," Linda said.

Iris jumped a little at the sound of her voice. "Huh?" she said.

"You're staring mad hard at Barry right now. I'm all the way up here and I can sense that jealousy," 

"What? Jealous. Me? Never." Iris said.

"Mhm. Focus, girl," Linda said.

Iris nodded, but not too long after, she saw the mystery girl starting to grind more and more on Barry. He was enjoying it for sure, but he didn't seem to be returning the favor.

She felt a weird feeling well up inside her.  _She's grinding on him. What the hell for? God dammit..._

Impulsively, she hopped up from the bar.  _Two can play at that game, Bartholomew._

She grabbed a random guy who was chilling at the bar, no doubt drunk off his ass and started dancing with him. Grinding on him, getting close to him.

Right in front of Bartholomew.

He took notice of this, but because it was so dark and hazy and the only source of light was the strobe lights way above, he couldn't even tell it was Iris at first.

But with a bit of staring, he placed her immediately. He knew that dark hair and her curvaceousness from a mile away.

Once he figured out it was her and she knew, she did her best to try to make him jealous as much as she could. She couldn't let him know that she knew she was making him jealous though. She had to pretend to be clueless out there.

Of course, Barry being Barry, he knows  _exactly_ what she's trying to do.  _And good God, it's working._  

He felt the jealously almost instantaneously. He also felt his dick get hard almost instantaneously. He wanted her. She knew he wanted her. And here she is, showing herself off right in front of him. Taunting him. Begging for him.

When Iris had him right where she wanted him, she tossed the drunk guy to the side and sauntered off towards a back hallway. There wasn't anyone back there, or anything. There were the restrooms of course and then some private rooms, but they seemed to be empty because they were dark. Iris takes notice of this.

Whatever was gonna go down, at least they'd be alone when it did.

She felt his presence behind her with every step she took. 

A few more steps, and then she turned around.

Barry was right there, ready to meet her yet again.

"Bartholomew. Fancy meeting you here," Iris says. She's smirking at him and eyeing him.

"Iris. I think you know what you were doing out there," he says, not breaking his gaze from her.

"I was dancing. With a guy. Problem?"

"No. Not a problem at all. But I think you know exactly what you were doing out there,"

"And what would that be, Barry?" Iris steps closer to him. Her perfume wafts into his nose and it takes everything he has not to slam her into the wall behind her and show her what she's missing.

"You were trying to make me jealous. And you couldn't have been more obvious,"

"Or maybe you just think I was trying to make you jealous because you think everything revolves around you,"

"Don't try to pull that on me. You made eye contact with me, Iris. And you kept it; you didn't break away. You wanted my attention. And now, you've got it,"

Iris' eyes traveled down to his waist. She saw the bulge peeking out from his jeans. Oh, he wanted her, alright. She wanted him, too. 

And he was about to have her.

"You want me, Barry?" 

He didn't respond at first. Him staring at those beautiful pink lips was answer enough. "You know the answer to that,"

She smirked. "Then have me."

He pushed her against the wall without another word and was all over her. He'd been waiting for this moment since he'd met her and even though it wasn't that long ago, maybe a couple of days, that wasn't stopping him. 

Their tongues were down each other's throats in a matter of seconds, their bodies pressing up against each other as much as they could.

His hands were traveling down her body just as her hands were running down his chest.

She was loving it. She wanted nothing more than to have him and for him to take advantage of her body giving itself to him just like in her dream from the night before.

His hands went down to the hem of her dress that she had on and he lifted it, squeezing her ass. She let out a little moan within the kiss and she could feel him smile. 

He had her right where he wanted her and they both knew it. She was putty in his hands.

She just wanted him to touch her. Touch her with his soft, gentle, yet oh-so-demanding hands. She needed to  _feel him._ It was only a kiss, yet her body was practically begging for him. And he was giving her everything she’d be craving. 

She was about to reach for his dick when they both felt his phone vibrate. He pulled away for a moment to check it out.

PATTY SPIVOT: I'm here. Are we doing this or not?

Barry smirked at the text. Iris gave him a look. "Sorry love, I've got to take this. Duty calls. Don't wait up for me," he caressed her cheek before he pulled away from her and winked at her. Before she had time to compose herself, he was already gone and ducked off around the corner, presumably back towards the dancefloor.

Her heartbeat was in her ears, and it was so heavy and fast. _Holy fucking shit. Did that just happen?! Did that seriously just happen..._

"Iris. You okay there?" she hears Linda's voice for the first time in a while. 

The minute Linda saw him, she headed down to the ground floor.

Iris lets out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. What's it looking like out there?" 

"Planting the bug on Barry's entourage as we speak," Linda said.

Iris ducks off into the restroom and hides while Linda does her thing.

As Linda got near the biggest of Barry's goons, she made sure she wasn't seen by Barry. If he managed to remember Iris after only a few encounters, he probably remembered Linda too, vaguely at least.

She bumped into the biggest of Barry's crew and placed the microscopic bug on his arm. He turned slightly but didn't really pay Linda any mind.

"Alright, Iris. The bug is planted. Where are you?" 

"Restroom." 

Barry and his people get up and head towards the back where he and Iris were.

"They're on their way back to where you an Barry were,"

"There are empty rooms back here. That's probably where they're going,"

Linda started towards the restroom. "On my way."

Within the next minute or so, Linda joins Iris in the restroom. "Hey. Is there anyone else in here?" she looks under the stalls.

"Nah," Iris shakes her head. Linda then turns and locks the door to the restroom. 

They put in their earpieces for the bug and wait. All they can hear is the music.  _They must still be out there._

Not too long after, they hear the music get quieter. Then a door opens and closes and all is quiet.

A minute later, they heard what they could assume was the same door open and close again. 

"Patty. Long time, no see," Barry says. Iris and Linda can just  _hear_ the smirk he's probably giving her.  _I can see why Patty had a thing for him. With that million dollar smile, who wouldn't?_

"Barry. You look...good,"

"I know."  _There goes that fucking cockiness again._  "What was this very important thing you had to tell me?" he asks.

"My father and his crew were going to ambush your father, Henry, at his apartment. Tomorrow. I don't know what time. But that's all I know,"

"Ambush? Jesus Christ..." Linda whispered.

"What the hell for?" Barry asked. He suddenly went from happy and carefree to serious and no-nonsense.

"That, I don't know. All I know is, he wants your dad dead."

For a minute, no one speaks. Linda and Iris are even silent, hanging on everyone's every word.

"And you told me this, why?" Barry finally asks.

"Well, because I care. Just because your dad exiled me doesn't mean I don't still care about him...or you."

Iris rolled her eyes. Linda scoffed.

Barry chuckled. "Was this an attempt to make something happen between us? Make me owe you something?"

"No! No, not at all. Just -"

"I would think you would be on your dad's side and not want to tell me that he's gonna ambush mine tomorrow. But I guess no one ever said you were smart,"

_Ouch._

Patty seemed to just skate right over that comment. "I also expect you to not tell anyone."

Barry laughed. "Hold on. You just told me that your dad wants to kill mine and you expect me to  _not_ say anything? My dear Patty, you never fail to prove time and time again that you are far stupider than you look." 

Iris wanted to laugh, but she couldn't. She was kind of shocked as his hostility towards her. 

But that didn't matter now.

Some shuffling happens, and then Barry speaks to the biggest bodyguard in the room, presumably whispering to him. Linda and Iris hear each word of his sentence loud and clear.

"Kill her,"

Before Patty has time to register what's going on, the biggest bodyguard pulls a gun on her. He stops a second before pulling the trigger.

She panics. "Barry. What - how could you? I just sold out my father for you!"

Iris and Linda are still listening. "We need to do something," Iris says. 

"What?! And risk our cover being blown?! I think the fuck not. We sit here and wait to see how this plays out." Linda grabs Iris' arm. She can tell Iris is ready to bolt out the door.

In just a few minutes, Barry's demeanor has done a full one-eighty. He's now the hardened criminal that every one of his enemies knows him to be. 

It was almost jarring for Iris to actually see that in action. She didn't expect it from someone like Barry. 

He walks back over to Patty and grabs her chin. "Oh, my dear Patty. If you sold out your own father for me just so that you could be with me, then you're no better than a snitch. And you know just like I do, that you can't trust a rat," he smirks at her and once he picked up the duffel bag full of money, he whispered something to the bodyguard holding the gun. This time, Iris and Linda didn't have to strain to hear him say it. He was loud and clear. 

"Kill her.”


	8. Certainly Was Excitin'

Without another word, the biggest bodyguard shot Patty in the chest with his silenced .45 and that was that.

"Come on. We gotta get rid of this body," the smaller one says as he grabs her by the upper body.

Barry, with the duffel bag in his hand and a smirk on his face, left the room silently while his men took care of Patty's body. They'd know what to do, he figured. It's not like it's their first time.

Iris was speechless. She knew he was a criminal, but damn, hearing all of that go down was something that not even she expected. Not from a man like Bartholomew. 

As soon as they knew the coast was clear, they unlocked the door to the restroom and left. After being in the restroom under semi-peace-and-quiet for what felt like so long, coming back into the loud music and ridiculous crowd was almost too much.

When Barry got outside, the signature black Benz pulled up and he got inside. By the time Iris and Linda made it outside, he was already in the car and down the street.

"Alright. Where're we going?" The driver was none other than Cisco. He agreed to pick Barry up tonight. He normally would've actually gone with him to this deal, but he had his own things going on tonight.

"Home. But, we're making a pit stop first. I need to go to my dad's apartment,"

He nods. "So, how'd it go?" 

"Which part? The information Patty wanted to tell me, or me shoving my tongue down Iris' throat?"

Cisco cut Barry a look so fierce that if looks could kill, he'd have just murdered him. "You did what?!" 

"I made out with Iris. It was very...interesting. If only Patty hadn't interrupted," he says. 

"You literally went to the club  _to meet Patty!_ _"_

"So, what? I'm definitely not complaining that Iris was there too, looking as amazing as she seems to always do so flawlessly,"

Cisco is silent for a bit before he speaks again. "You like her,"

"Excuse me?"

"You. Like. Her."

"I do not. I think she's attractive. Big, big difference. Nothing more, nothing less."

Cisco knows better than to argue with Barry. But, he also knows better than to actually _believe_ him when he says stuff like that. Once Barry has his mind set on something, there's no changing it. Even if he knows, deep down, that he's wrong. "Maybe so, Barry. Maybe so. But give it time. You don't know it yet, but I think you've caught feelings. And if you haven't yet, you definitely will."

Barry decided to change the subject. "Well, referring to the matter at hand, I found out what Patty wanted,"

"Really? And what was that?"

"Her dad wants to kill my dad. Tomorrow. But, she didn't tell me a time,"

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. I just know that we have to get there and get ready because something tells me she wasn't bluffing. Those bastards want war, and that's exactly what they're going to get," he said, his voice showing  _nothing_ but determination.

When he and Cisco pulled up to the apartment complex, there were very few lights on apart from the ones on the ground floor.

They parked and wasted no time going in. As soon as they got to the apartment, Barry opened the door with his key and they went in. Henry was sitting at his desk looking at something when they got in.

"Barry. Cisco. What brings you guys here tonight?"

"Dad, I just got done talking to Patty,"

"Patty Spivot? The hell for?"

"Long story. What you need to know is that she snitched on her dad. She said he and his guys were gonna be here, tomorrow, to kill you. And maybe even me if they find me,"

Henry sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. "I'm gonna call all of our men. We might need all hands on deck,"

Cisco was confused. "Dude. What the hell is the problem with the Spivots?"

"I've never liked them, Cisco. Patty was the bookkeeper for a while, and she was good. Really good. But that sneaky, conniving bitch started taking from me. And any dumbass with a brain knows that when you fuck with Henry Allen, you bite the bullet,"

He went into his office to call up his men.

Barry speaks next. "Plus, she tried to get with me in that process and I was  _not_ having it. There was always something off about her, and I never even knew what it was for a while,"

Harry nods, agreeing.

"Is she still alive? Did you kill her?" Cisco asks.

Barry chuckles. "She was alive. Up until about thirty minutes ago,"

Cisco was shocked. He often forgot just how cold-blooded his best friend could be. Smart, deadly, and handsome. The Barry Allen combination.

"Alright, Cisco. I'm not gonna make you stay. I don't wanna see you get hurt,"

"You kidding me? Of course, I'm staying. My trigger finger is itchy right now. Hand me a gun,"

Barry smiled and nodded, handing him a submachine gun. 

Henry came out of his office with duffel bags full of guns. 

"Alright boys, grab an extra gun and anything else you need and perch yourself by a window. We don't know how long we're about to be here,"  

**• Meanwhile... •**

Iris and Linda caught an Uber back to the hotel and were back in their room within minutes. They didn't talk so much about what just happened during the car ride so as not to arouse suspicion and concern from the stranger in the car.

When they walked in, Iris sat on her bed as Linda closed the door behind her.

"Okay, now that we're back here, I feel the need to say this," Linda starts, "Dude. What the  _fuck?_ _"_

Iris is confused. She's not sure what she's is talking about. "Which part are you reacting too?"

"You, making out with Barry,"

_Shit. I knew it._

"Yeaaah, I'm sorry about you hearing that," Iris says awkwardly.

"Hearing you guys practically eat each other's face and all the moaning...that was definitely not the highlight of my evening," Linda says as she heads into the bathroom.

"I don't know what came over me. I saw him dancing with that random girl and I just felt..." Iris herself is at a loss for words. Even she couldn't pinpoint how she felt.

"Jealous?" Linda finishes for her.

"Jealous? Oh, hell no. I was just - "

"Iris, I swear to God, if you lie to me right now, I will knock your ass out,"

"Okay, okay! It may have been jealousy," Iris says, defeated.

"See? Was that so hard?"

"Yes!" Iris answers, half-joking. "I'm not one to admit that I'm jealous, ever. And I sure as hell wouldn't want to admit that about Barry,"

"Watching all of that happen was...for lack of a better word, shocking,"

"Shit, you're telling me,"

"Wait, Iris. I have an idea,"  

"What?"

"Patty said that her dad was going to kill Barry's dad," 

"Yeah, so?"

"So, we've got to get over there! We have to make sure Barry doesn't die," 

"He'll be alright. He's got his people. We shouldn't get mixed up in this more than we already are. We need to maintain our cover as best we can," she says as she gets ready for bed.

"We cannot take our chances. First thing in the morning, we're going to Henry's apartment,"

Iris nods. "Alright, I suppose,"

Linda laid down and fell asleep within the hour. Iris took longer to fall asleep because she was thinking of what Linda was saying a couple days prior.

_"You know, get out of the business. Start a family, maybe have kids?"_

It was moments like this that made Iris think about that question. Sometimes - most times - she thinks that Linda might be crazy to actually want to give this life up when she says all that. They've got everything they've ever wanted right here, right?

Then other times, just like this one, she thinks that maybe, just maybe...she might be on to something.

* * *

**•**   **Day 4 of Assignment •**

Iris and Linda were awake before the sun was even up. They knew that if they wanted to catch this while it was hot, they needed to be on it before it even went down. 

They were ready and out the door, mics, guns, knives, all in about twenty minutes. 

“Alright, let’s go. Something tells me this mob likes to be up and at ‘em early,”

On the way, Linda reaches over and starts listening to the bug that they planted, again. Most of the time, no one was home, so there was usually nothing worth listening to,  but today, they would definitely hear some chatter on the other end.

_”Alright, Dad. What we looking at here? Twenty-five, thirty men?”_ That was Barry's voice. He sounded a little  _too_ eager. But maybe that was just Iris...

_“Thereabout. We need all the manpower we can get,”_ Henry sounds way calmer. 

Barry had on his bulletproof vest. Not that he thought he needed it, but if things came to a head, he wanted to at least be ready.  

In about twenty minutes, they were there. It seemed to be in the nick of time, too.

The Allens have men everywhere. They'd had guys who weren’t even in the building but in the adjacent ones ready to pop off if anything went south. 

About six black SUVs rolled up and about four or five men per ride busted out with Tommy guns and machine guns and suits like it was the 1950s. 

Everything, for a moment, at least, was frozen, almost. Spivot's men ducked down and for a second, all was quiet.  

Then the gunshots erupted. The block was filled with bodies and blood in minutes. Men had their heads blown off, their brains blown out, and some had too many holes in their bodies to count. Blood was everywhere and everyone was screaming. 

Linda and Iris turn the bug back on to see if they can't hear anything of interest besides the gunshots. 

The minute they turned it back on, though, all they heard was incoherent yelling and screaming along with the same familiar gunshots.

_”We’re losing guys! And fast!”_ Barry’s voice broke through the mic first.

Cisco said something, but it was unintelligible from Iris’ and Linda’s end. 

“We’ve got to help them,” Linda said.

”What?! Help them? And risk our covers getting blown again? We're risking enough by just being here,”

”Iris! They will die if they keep this up the way they are. Their men on the street are all already dead and I don’t see more reinforcements pulling up anytime soon,"

Reluctantly, Iris pulls out her gun with her silencer and gets out to start firing every so often. Linda had to get out of the car entirely as well and prop herself up behind the car so as to get a better shot.

They prayed to God himself that they didn't get caught. They hoped that everyone's adrenaline would be far too high to notice a car that has never been here before by their account.

Barry, Cisco, Henry, and the men who were still alive were almost cornered. The men on the ground floor were being picked off one by one and the reinforcements that were called five minutes ago still haven't shown up. The men they had in the other buildings were holding their own fairly well but even that was quickly becoming not enough. If they step away from cover, it almost certainly means death.

"Has Spivot himself pulled up or did he just send his lackeys to do his dirty work?" Cisco yells from the other side of the apartment.

"I haven't seen any sign of Spivot at all," Henry says, firing off shots without leaving his cover. He's spraying and praying that his bullets hit something. After all, he was the main one who was wanted dead. Everyone else was just a necessary loss to get to the main objective. 

Barry didn't want to have to leave his post, but he knew that if he didn't, this shootout could very well go on all day. And they don't have that kind of timetable.

Just as they said that, though, more men from either side rolled up and unleashed absolute hell on each other. Most men barreled out donned in nothing but guns and more guns. Some men even shot from the cars, not even bothering to get out.

One of the men in the apartment with them peeked from cover and in the midst of everything, noticed Iris and Linda. 

"Mr. Allen!" he calls. 

Barry and Henry both look up. The man heads straight for the window that Barry was by. "Down there, sir! There are unfamiliar people who are in that car. They seem to be helping us!" With timed movement, he managed to actually show Barry the car.

How the hell he notices that of all things in the midst of everything, Barry doesn't know.

But, he wonders just who the hell could be there. He even has half a mind to actually go down there and confront whoever it is, but part of him doesn't really care. They are obviously on his side, so does it really matter? Not right now, at least. In his mind, he obviously has way more pressing matters...

After she gets some shots in, Linda gets back in the car. She has a confused look on her face while she's ducked down again, watching men die.

"Hey, you okay? What's wrong?" Iris asks her when she gets back in herself.

"I'm wondering why we haven't heard a single police or ambulance siren. Surely everyone who lives around here hears these gunshots, so why hasn't anyone called someone about it?"

"Well, let's think about this. These people live here, so they're probably used to things like this happening. They probably just stay out of the way until it dies down and it's safe to go out again," 

"Yeah, you're right. Plus...this _is_ the projects. Police don't ever come up in places like this anyway, and if they do, it takes forever. They're scared of anyone who's not white, remember?"

Iris scoffs. "How could I forget?"

A few more gunshots and some blood-curdling screams later, Iris looks up at the window where the Allens and Cisco are holed up. She sees Barry poking his head out and she, if only for a second, catches his gaze. 

_Oh, no._ "Linda. We gotta go," she says suddenly, getting ready to start the car.

"What? Why? What happened to us laying down covering fire?" 

"I think we've been made," Iris replies. 

"What?! How?!"

"I could see Barry. Just barely, but he was there in the window." She points to about where he was, "He definitely has seen the car, if not us ourselves. He stared right at the car. And my guess is, he's on his way down here to confirm his suspicions. We can't let him see us. We have to go. NOW." 

Without another word, Iris turns the key and in seconds, they speed off down the road. Barry had just got down the elevator and shot his way through the hallway when they skidded off. He's too late.

_Dammit._ He didn't get there in time, but it didn't matter now because he still had bigger things to worry about. He would worry about that later, he thought.

He needed to get back upstairs so at least to get a better vantage point. Whatever he was doing right now was just not gonna cut it. Plus, he was low on ammo from just trying to get down there. He needed to get back, and quickly.

In a split second decision, he ran up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. He couldn't afford to wait for it this time.

_Of all times you choose to take forever..._

Men from Spivot's crew were lined in the stairwell too, but Barry laid them out with a bullet to the foot and stomach each.

He got back into the apartment without much trouble after that and exchanged his AK-47 for an M16 and got more ammo, too. 

The shootout is showing signs of slowing down. But Spivot still isn't there, and Henry's getting impatient. All this death and destruction, just for him to not come. In Henry's eyes, that's just like Spivot to do something like that.

After a few more shots were fired and even more men died from gunshot wounds and otherwise, two more black SUVs pulled up.

This time though, who came out of one of the black SUVs was what startled everyone.

"Henry! Long time no see!" Spivot himself called from outside. He looked around him, and the site to even him was nothing short of atrocious.

"Is that...?" Cisco started.

"Spivot," Barry finished. They were shocked he'd actually came out. It was the last thing any one of them could expect.

As Spivot walked around slowly, men were strewn everywhere. Some were just barely clinging to life, but most were long dead, and bullets and blood were everywhere. He almost felt remorse that it had come to this.  _Almost._

"Spivot! How the hell are ya?!" Henry yells out the window, looking down at him. The sight he was seeing wasn't any less appalling from six floors up from the ground.

"I'm great! You sure killed a ton of my men, though, rest their souls!" Spivot yells. 

He doesn't want to, but Henry has to lean out the window to even hear him. 

"My dead men are down here, too! But it's okay because it was all to get to you!"

"Well, I'm down here! Come and face me!"

Henry thinks about it for a moment. "Not likely! You can come on up here, old friend!"

Surprisingly, he actually does come in. 

"Dad, what the hell -"

"Barry, I got this. Let me handle this," Henry leaves the room with nothing but his pistol in his back pocket and goes outside. 

"This is a classic case of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," Cisco says, "and it's about to get real, real ugly,"

"Come on. My dad is definitely gonna need backup," Barry says and they're right behind Henry when he walks out the door.

Henry meets Spivot downstairs. At first, no one shoots.

They just start...talking.

"Henry. You're looking well," Spivot starts with the small talk.

"Not so bad yourself. It...it really is a shame that it had to come to this," Henry says, and for a minute, he actually did sound remorseful. Like maybe there was a twinge of actual regret in his voice.

"Yes. It is, isn't it?" Spivot walks up slowly. 

"This whole situation is quite unfortunate, to be honest," Henry says.

Spivot is quiet for a moment. The apartment was so quiet that he could cut the tension with a knife.

Barry and Cisco were just around the corner, ready and more than willing to bust a cap in a split second if anything went down.

"You know, Henry, I -"

"You know, it's too bad. Hard to believe that once upon a time, you were like a brother to me," Henry replies.

"I could say the same about you," Spivot replies.

"Yeah, well. That was always the difference between you and me, Spivot..."

"What's that?"

Instead of answering him, in one swift move, Henry brought out his pistol and shot Spivot square in the stomach.

Barry and Cisco hear the gunshot and instantly move from their cover. They soon realize that it's not Henry that got shot.

Spivot fell to the ground in what seemed like was slow motion. He starts coughing up blood and can barely keep his eyes open. When Henry kneels down next to him, there are even tears in Spivot's eyes. From the pain of the gunshot or otherwise, he doesn't know.

"I - I never thought..." Spivot whispers.

"You'd get shot?" Henry says, just as quiet as he is.

A strained cough from Spivot. "Precisely. First time I saw my father livin' this life, he looked so...so handsome. Dashing, even. It was as if the life itself was human, almost. I suppose it was, huh? Takin' lives, makin' lives better while in turn making others worse. Sounds a lot like a human to me..."

Henry doesn't open his mouth to speak. The only sounds are coming from Spivot as he's taking his final breaths. He continues, "My old man wore the finest suits, drove the nicest cars. Had the finest women. I never thought he could do no wrong. He tried to keep my momma and me away from it, but I was stubborn. Couldn't stay away. Wanted a piece of the action. Of the conning, the robbing, the stealing, the killing. I wanted it all. It was a rush to me." He attempts to breathe again and it appears to take everything he has, physically. He doesn't have much time left if he has any at all, really.

"Now look where 'a piece of the action' has gotten you," Henry says. 

Spivot smiles a bloody smile and shakes his head tearfully. "There was always something terribly romantic about all of this," He groaned in pain as he tried to sit up some.

"Now, you should know. There ain't nothing romantic - even in the slightest - about this life, about robbing and killin' people,"

Spivot chuckled painfully. "Well, maybe not. But I tell you, H. If it wasn't anything else, it certainly was excitin'."

He started to fade out of consciousness, but Henry wasn't about to let him have the satisfaction of dying peacefully - or, as peacefully as one can with a bullet in their liver.

Henry wanted to watch the light drain out of his eyes. He wanted, quite literally, to watch him die. After everything that went down, he wanted to see this to its bitter end.

He shot him one more time in the head, as one would do for good measure.

And in seconds, the light died in his eyes and Henry knew he was gone.

For the longest time, Barry Allen thought his father could do no wrong. He thought that everything he did had a justifiable reason, one way or another. He always thought he knew that everything was as it should be and that his father was just a man bound by his circumstances. Barry wanted to believe that his father  _did what he had to do_ to get where he is right now. He always tried to show how scared he _wasn't_ of his father. And of course, he thought everything his father did and said - just like Spivot once thought with his own father - happened for a reason, whether that reason was apparent to Barry or not.

But at that moment, if only for a split second, Barry felt nothing but _pure, unadulterated fear_ towards his father. 

Without another word, Barry steps outside to where he saw that unfamiliar car. He needed to get his mind off of what had just gone down.

He got to the spot his unknown allies were at and he found nothing but one lone California state ID card laying face down on the ground.

He picked it up. Surely, it couldn't belong to anyone of importance; maybe someone who lost it earlier in the day or late last night.

Turning it over, his stomach just about drops when he reads the name on the card.

_Iris Ann West._


	9. Focus

When Iris and Linda managed to peel out and evade the shootout, they still listened to the bug to see what they could get and could hear.

There's a moment where they don't hear too much. They hear Barry and Cisco talking, and then...just, nothing.

After that, there was a distant gunshot and they could only assume that Spivot or Henry died. They hoped it was Spivot, but God knows that they couldn't tell.

Now, though, they were back in their hotel room and dressing down. Already it was a long day. It was barely noon and people were dead.

Iris was making sure she had everything, and everything is accounted for.

All, except for one thing. Her state-issued ID.

She silently panics and hopes that she has it, that maybe she just didn't look hard enough, but just can't find it in all her things. She takes out everything from every pocket and even looks around the room.

_Oh, fuck._

"Um, Linda," Iris says slowly.

Linda speaks up from the bathroom. "Yeah?"

"I can't find my ID," 

Linda comes out of the bathroom this time. "You can't find it? When was the last time you remember having it?"

"I had it in my pocket today. I had every intention of putting it in my wallet but I guess I never got around to it. Just now when I checked my things, it's not here,"

"Well, maybe it fell out on our way out this morning," 

"Yeah, probably," Iris shrugged. She figured that if someone found it, they might be a decent human being and return it to her.

Just then, Iris got a call on her burner phone. She answered right away when she saw who it was.

"Hello?" 

It was none other than Michael. "Hello, Miss West. Your father is in town and we thought would like to obtain a status update from you and Miss Park. I'm not there right now as I have other things to attend to, but I am able to join you via Skype call. Are you busy right now?"

"Oh, um, Michael," Iris says. Linda looks up when she says that. "Just a second please, sir,"

She turns to Linda. "He wants a status update. He wants us to meet my dad somewhere so we can give them an update. He'll be on a Skype call again," Iris says to Linda.

"A status update? What are we gonna tell him? That you're fucking around with the target?" Linda asks. 

_"Hell_ no. I could never. We might have to stretch the truth a little bit," Iris says quickly.

"Miss West?" Michael says.

"Yes, yes Michael I'm here. Sorry. We can meet. Give me an address and we can be there within the hour," 

"Alright," he says while Iris grabs a pencil and paper, "4675 Whispymound Avenue. It's an abandoned red warehouse. The second biggest one on the block, you absolutely cannot miss it," 

She takes all of that down. "Alright. Got it. We'll talk to you again soon," Iris says.

"Right. Good day, Miss West," he replies, and then the line clicks.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Iris yells as soon as she's off the phone with him.

"What?!" Linda asks.

"What are we gonna say to them? They want a status update and knowing my father, he's gonna want actual progress. If we tell them that we've gotten virtually nowhere, they're gonna start wondering what the fuck is up,"

"Iris, you act like we've never lied before!" 

"Duh, of course we have, but never to my father and straight to his face. He's gonna see right through my lies; he literally always does,"

"Iris! We will be fine, okay? Calm yourself down. We got this," 

She did calm down after a little bit.

_Just breathe._ "Alright, you ready? I told Michael we'd be there in an hour," Iris says.

"I guess. You good, though?" Linda asks. She hated it when Iris' anxiety flared up on her. It was rare for it to happen, especially on a job, but when it did, it only usually happened when it was just the two of them.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright. Let's go," 

They arrived in the next twenty minutes and parked. Joe was there, with his signature computer and a projector.

"Hi, dad," Iris said, all smiles and hugs when she walked in.

"Hey, baby," he says, enveloping her in one of his amazing hugs.

"Hey, Mister West," Linda said after they pulled away, and gave Joe a hug as well. 

"Alright, we ready to call Michael?" Iris asks. 

"Yup, just a sec," Joe queues up Skype and calls Michael. He answers on the second ring.

"Ah, hello Joe. Miss West, Miss Park," Michael answers.

"Hello, Michael," Iris spoke up. Linda gives him a nod.

"Well, you know why I called you all here today," Michael starts. "Do you ladies have an update for me?"

_Time to lie._ Iris looks at Linda just before speaking. "We've not neutralized Allen yet, but we've made progress in the objective. We've learned that since his security is air-tight, it's been a little bit tricky trying to get near him, but we have gotten closer to killing him. We estimate that the target will be dead within the week,"

"Within the week?" Michael asks. It almost seems like he was questioning how they were going about this.

"Yes, Michael. You gave us all the time in the world, remember?" Iris says, matching his tone of voice.

He is silent for a moment, seeming to be contemplating. "I did, didn't I..."

Iris nods, and Linda holds her breath.

After about a minute, though, Michael smiles. "That I did. Very well. Take all the time in the world that you need, ladies. If that is all you have for me, then I really must be going. Duty calls, as you know. Good day," he says.

Before they could respond, the call hangs up.  _Well, that could have gone better. But, we're not dead._

Iris turns slowly and tries to put on a smile. "O...kay, then. Hey, Dad, we've got to go see what we can dig up now if we're done here," she says.

"Actually, can I talk to you in private real quick?" He asks. She nods and Linda takes that hint and heads outside and waits.

When she's out, Iris turns. "What's up, dad?"

As soon as he hears the door close, he's all business.

"You need to get your head in the game, Iris,"

She's taken aback. "I'm - what? My head is completely in the game. What do you mean?"  

"I mean that you're not focused. I can tell. You're not taking this as seriously as you should," he says, anger laced in his voice. 

"Dad, I don't know where this is coming from, but I swear, I -"

"But, nothing. I can sense something's not right here. You got your head in the clouds about this Bartholomew, don't you?"

"What?! No! I -"  _Am I really that obvious?_

"Get your head in the goddamn game, Iris. You need to hurry up and kill Bartholomew. You have the rest of this week and next week. and he better be dead by the end of next week."

"But Michael said - "

His voice is booming now, it almost seemed as if he was towering over Iris even though he's not too much taller than her. "I don't care what Michael said! He better be killed by next week or I'll see to it _myself_ that he dies, Iris,"

_No. I can't let that happen._

"Dad. Linda and I, we're doing fine. You just heard me when I said that his security is airtight. I can't kill what I can't get close to, dad. We're gonna get him, I swear,"

He chuckles a bit. "Not true. You're a skilled sniper. If you were as serious about this as you say, you'd have killed him already, and you know it,"

"I _am_ serious about this! Linda and I both are!"

"I'm not sure Michael should have asked you to do this job. You may not be competent enough for it," he says.

_What the fuck is up with him?! Is he really saying this, all because Barry's not dead?_

Iris felt hurt more than anything. Her own father is saying this about her; the same father who once thought so highly of her. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I am  _more_ than competent enough and so is Linda! You've never even said this before! You've never acted this way. Where the fuck is this coming from?!" Iris' voice is just as loud as Joe's now, if not louder. It's quickly turning into a screaming match between father and daughter.

"You watch that mouth," Joe says, quieter now but with matching intensity."You think that just because you're good at what you do, you can slack off, huh?"

Iris was quiet this time as well. Silent. She was afraid that the next thing she would say, she would deeply regret. When she didn't find any words to say, Joe spoke again.

"You need to get your head in the fucking game, Iris. _I mean it_ ,"

She felt so hurt, so appalled that her father could say something like that, especially right now. _How could he say something like that? How can he look me in my face and say that when he's the reason that mom -_

"Iris." Joe brought her back to reality.

"Yes, dad,"

"Do I make myself clear?" He asked, quiet again this time.

"Crystal," she says quietly and leaves the room without another word.  _Fucking crystal._

She tries her best to put on a smile for Linda when she gets in the car and sees her. 

"Hey. You good?" Linda asks.

_Fuck no._ "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she lies.

Linda just looks at her. "We're gonna try that again. Iris," she says slowly, "Are you okay?"

"Fuck no, I'm not fucking okay,"

"What happened? What did your dad say?"

"I just got yelled at! He basically said that I don't know how to do my damn job. He pretty much called the both of us incompetent. Me specifically,"

"What the hell?! Why?!"

"Because Barry's not dead. He wants him dead by the end of next week,"

"What? I thought Michael gave us as much time as we wanted, and your dad was right on board along with it,"

"Yeah, I thought so, too," Iris says more softly.

"Well, what are we gonna do? If he wants him dead by next week," Linda asks.

_Maybe my dad was right. I guess I'm not as competent as I thought I was. If I prove to my dad and Michael that I'm cut out like I know I am, I guess I have to do what I know I have to do._

She did her best to put her determined face on. "We've got to kill Barry,"

Even as she said that, she knew she didn't believe it.

"I looked at the file again for a quick second before we left today." Linda shifts in her seat and gets ready to drive off.

"What'd you see?" Iris asks.

"Barry usually goes out with Cisco and parties. But after what happened today, something tells me that he's gonna chill today,"

"Hold on. You think Barry Allen is gonna pass up a chance to get wasted?"

"No. But who in the hell goes to the club this much?"

Iris chuckled. "Barry, apparently. He's good for it, I guess. Either way, I volunteer to take this one,"

"Go right ahead. Try not to eat each other this time around," Linda teases.

"Trust me, Lin. It's not me you have to worry about," 

**• Meanwhile... •**

After Barry finds Iris' ID, he quickly shoved it in his pocket. _What the hell does this mean?_ He didn't know yet, but things were about to get extremely interesting for the two of them.

"Barry!" he hears Cisco calling out behind him.

He turns and goes toward him, trying his best to not seem like he just found this not-so-random girl's ID. 

"Yeah. What's up, man?"

"You good?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely,"

_I've got to find Iris. I need answers and I need them now. This is all too freaky, even for my taste._

"You sure? You look like you just saw a ghost," 

Barry almost doesn't want to tel Cisco what he just found, but one way or another, he was going to find out anyway.

Barry goes into his pocket and takes out Iris' ID. He hands it to Cisco and the minute he sees it, his eyes widen and his mouth drops. "This is..."

Barry grabs it and puts it away. "Iris. Yeah, I know,"

"This is bad and good at the same time," Cisco says.

"She was here, which could mean a couple different things. She could've been helping us. Or she could've been spying on us,"

"Whoa, dude. Calm down. Can you say, 'jumping the gun?' Maybe she just lives around here. You are diving way too far into this,"

Barry knows that Cisco has a point, but he couldn't help but think that he was right on this one. His gut feeling hasn't been wrong yet.

"Either way, are we still going to the club tonight?"

"Oh, most definitely."

Barry and Cisco head back in as Henry's on the phone with some of his men. He's ready for them to come and take the bodies away. His coroner buddies are about to have a field day.

As Barry and Cisco go back up to the apartment, Barry starts thinking more and more about Iris and what it could possibly mean that she was here at one point and that she probably was in the car he saw in the midst of blowing men's heads off.

Cisco may be right. He usually is. Maybe Iris does live around here, a lot closer to him than he once thought.

Or, there's a secret, dark side to Iris West.

And if that's true, he's gonna find out what that is.


	10. Desire

**_• 9:45 p.m. •_ **

Cisco and Barry were out at Nightingale Plaza, and for the first time, Barry wasn't feeling the dance floor. He wasn't really feeling the women dressed in next to nothing, either. He  _was_ feeling the shots of straight Tequila that he was taking to the head, though.

"Dude, you okay? You've been seeming out of it since earlier," Cisco comes over to him and asks amidst all the loud music.

"I've been thinking about Iris and her ID since I found it today," Barry replies.

"What did I tell you? It probably it is harmless. Plus, what do you care?"

 _That's a good question._ "I'm just curious, okay?" 

"Well, you need to be curious about that chick over there," Cisco gestures behind him. Barry looks, and there's a girl staring dead at him, giving him  _that_ look.

"Nah, man. Not right now," Barry chuckles. He knew something was up with this whole Iris thing. He couldn't get his mind off of it, or her.

Cisco realized this is serious to him. He  _never_ turns down a potential opportunity to fuck someone.

"Suit yourself, Allen. Either way though, are you sure you're okay? I know you said you were thinking about Iris, but it seems like there's more than that on your mind," 

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. It's just that one thing," 

Cisco squints at him, not believing him. "Keep lying to me, Allen. You're liable to get punched square in your face. We'll talk later," Cisco says and with that, pats Barry on the back and dives back into the dancefloor and into the crowd.

Barry hated that Cisco was probably right like he usually is because even Barry doesn't know why he's acting like this.

The possibility is there, though. He can absolutely feel that something isn't right. It just can't be that simple; the fact that Iris may just leave near his father.  _Things are never that simple. It can't be. Right?_

He couldn't think too much about anything else, really. Maybe it  _could_ be that easy.

At the same time, Iris walked in.

Iris dressed nice and sexy enough to blend in, but not _so_ sexy that she stuck out too much. But to Barry, she always sticks out.

She honestly didn't know if Barry was going to be here. But, this was one of his favorite clubs as mentioned in the file on him, and they figured that he wouldn't go to the same club twice within the same week. 

Especially after he killed someone at the other club. The smart thing and probably the safest thing to do, Barry and Iris both knew, would be to steer clear of that place for a little while. 

As dark as it was, she couldn't find Barry. She couldn't even see Cisco. But she figured if she found one, she was finding the other not too far away. 

She wanted to go get a drink, but she figured the bar would card her. And unfortunately, she lost that earlier in the day.

Her phone vibrated just then. She took it out, hoping to God it was Linda, if anyone, and not her father. He was the very last person that she wanted to speak too. 

LINDA: Hey you good? Be careful and call me if shit goes south

She sent back a quick text saying that she's fine and puts her phone away. 

She scanned the bar quickly to see if Barry was downing alcohol and she sees him at the end of the bar sitting on a stool. 

_I have half of a mind to do him how he did me and ask him "Is this seat taken?"_

Part of her just wants to go straight up to him, and part of her wants to do what she's been doing.

Of course, the impulsive side always wins. If she wasn't impulsive, how would anything ever get done?

The minute she sees a seat next to him open up, she saunters over and sits down. At first, he doesn't notice her, but a couple seconds later, he turns and notices her unmistakable figure. 

He smirks and scoots closer.  _Alright, Iris. I'll bite._

"You sure enjoy following me, don't you?" Barry says loudly. 

"Following you? Nah. But I walked in and saw you and very vaguely recognized you,"

"Vaguely? Don't act like my tongue hasn't been down your throat, Iris. You loved it, too,"

_You're damn right, Bartholomew. But I'll be damned if I let you know that._

Without another word, Iris gets up and gestures her head to outside the club. Barry hops up, trying his best not to show how eager he is and is right behind Iris when she walks out. 

Once they get out there, he speaks first. "Outside again, huh? Why am I getting a sense of déjà vu?"

"That's completely intentional. Regardless, what makes you think that I enjoyed you doing that?"

"What? Making out with you?"

She nods.

"Well, a couple big tells. The first and the biggest is that you literally told me to kiss you. Second, you didn't throw me off of you. You would have thrown me off and slapped me if you didn't like it. And not to mention, you went to grab for my dick last night while we made out. Plus, I think I've got you figured out,"

"Oh? Go ahead. Humor me real quick," Iris has a giant smirk on her face now. 

"You swear up and down that you don't want me and that you're not attracted to me, and that may have been true at first," he pauses. "but let's be real with ourselves here, Iris. You can't get enough of me. Every moment you  _said_ you didn't want me, you wanted me so much that you could barely contain yourself. You might even want me now. Am I even the slightest bit wrong about any of this?"

Iris is speechless. He's so spot-on that it's scary.  _I mean, I knew I was obvious but damn. He hit the nail right on the head._

"I'm taking that silence as a no, then. Even though I know that I'm right," he smirks at her.

"So what if you're right, Barry?"

"I'd love to _hear_ you say that I'm right about it," Barry smiles.

"And feed that huge ego of yours? I don't think so," Iris smiles right back.

"Maybe I just need an excuse to hear that pretty voice of yours," 

Iris blushes a bit.  _Boy, does he have a way with words..._

"God. You're hot  _and_ smart, Barry Allen," she says aloud.

She was growing tired by the minute of pretending she didn't want him around him, and around everyone, really.

But playing this game, with him specifically, was just so fun. She couldn't stop toying with him. And it didn't seem like he was complaining too much, either. They enjoyed the chase for one another.

He couldn't wait for the day he would finally get her, though.

She slowly goes and touches him under his shirt and he feels exactly how he felt in her wet dream about him. Those gorgeous abs of his were practically waiting, begging for her hands to come in contact with them. 

The minute her hands landed on them, Barry's breath got caught in his throat. He was caught off guard, but the last thing he wanted was for her to take her hands away. With every passing moment, his dick was just getting harder and harder by simply touching him. 

It was crazy how one little touch from her can send him over the edge, practically making him beg her for more.

He wanted her so fucking bad that it was almost killing him. But he decided that he was gonna have some fun of his own.

He grabbed her wrist as she was getting lower to his waistband. She raised an eyebrow up at him. "Problem?"

"Precisely. Answer me this, Iris: Why on earth would you want to touch someone that you don't want?" He asks.

She was silent. She knew she didn’t have an answer and he knew, too.

"I'll answer that for you; you wouldn't. So, that said, you don't get me until you tell me that you want me. I want to hear you  _say it,_ Iris. Tell me that you want me,"

"You want to hear me say it?"

"I do,"

"Fine.  _I want you."_

That was all it took for Barry. "Do you, maybe, wanna get out of here?"

"Definitely," Iris says. 

He saw his driver parked ahead on the curb. 

Once they got in, Barry spoke to him. "Take us back to my place, please," 

"What about Cisco?"

"Come back for him once you drop us off," he says and with that, the unnamed driver nodded and they were on their way. 

Iris wasn't sure what was about to happen; she couldn't believe herself. She actually _told_ Barry she wanted him. And good God, she did. And it was more than obvious that he wanted her too. 

After the short drive to his house, they got out and Iris had to do her best to not be in awe. His house is big as hell! 

Of course, she'd already been there once, so she knew this. But a house looks different with a bunch of people in it and partying versus when there's virtually no one in it.

Once they got in, she went ahead of him while he closed and locked the door.

Before he could even fully do that, though, she pushed him against the wall and started making out with him.

He was taken aback. He knew she wanted him, but even this was not something he was prepared for. Was he complaining, though? Not by a long shot. This is exactly what they had both been waiting for.

While Iris was still attached to his lips, he managed to fumble with and lock the door and kiss her back at the same time. She didn't wanna let go, and neither did he.

They actually managed to break away - if only for a second - while they climbed up the steps to his bedroom. The minute they hit the doorway, they're at the bed and are going at it harder than before. 

After so long, Iris finally got to touch him. Got to  _feel him._ She can barely contain herself. She's practically ripping his clothes off, wanting nothing more than to have his body on hers, finally.

Barry wanted to caress Iris; wanted to take his time. He needed to really get a feel for her body. He wanted to make her tick in just the right ways, which was weird for him because, when it came to most girls, it was almost always just a quick fuck and then it was over. 

But, Iris was...different. He didn't know why that was yet, and why he felt that way, but he just knew she was different.

He got her dress off of her and soon she was just in her bra and panties. A beautiful sight to him, truly. When she got his clothes off of him, she about jumped for joy at the sight of him in his boxers. He was even more attractive than she once thought. 

She pulled him closer to her and kissed him harder than ever like he was the last thing she was ever going to taste. And he tasted damn good; like Tequila and lime, but she loved it. It was as if they couldn't get closer.

After rolling around on the bed some, Iris ended up on top. Barry was enjoying the sight of her exposed body a little too much and she absolutely enjoyed the view she had, seeing him admire her the way that he was. 

He sat up and reached behind her, taking her bra straps from her shoulders and unhooking her bra with a couple swift motions. Her exposed breasts were in his face and he felt like a kid in a candy store, going at her nipples and sucking them, first slowly and gradually getting faster. He could tell that Iris was trying her best to hold back some of her moans, but he wanted her to be as loud as she wanted.

She grabbed him and was squeezing him, moaning his name right into his ear and every little touch, squeeze, and sound she made just made him harder and harder. It was all so simple, yet it was almost as if she awakened something inside of him.

He'd fucked other girls, and sure, he'd fucked some of them more than once, but none of them were anything like Iris. 

Her moans only got louder and louder, and he was loving it. He'd been wanting to make her moan for him like that since the first time they made out. To Barry, this was more than just a quick fuck and it was more than just sex. He realized that by realizing  _that,_ he knew that he wanted, for the first time in maybe ever, to make love.

One doesn't normally make that judgment call so early, but to him, it just felt right to him.

Iris had never felt anything like this before. She's had sex plenty of times, but this was only her first time with Barry and it seemed like he was just taking her in, studying every inch of her. 

She wanted his lips on hers. No, not wanted. _Needed._ She took his head from her breasts and brought it up to her and she kissed him so hard like it would be the last. He returned the kiss with the same intensity, maybe even more than her.

He pushed her off slightly to say something. "Iris, are you sure this is what you want?" he asks.

"What I want is you, Barry. I want  _you._ I want to make love to you.”

It was as if their bodies were calling for each other. It was more than just sex for the both of them. It was desire. His complete and total longing for her and vice versa. This was something that neither one of them could explain.

Something that neither of them wanted to end, even for a moment.

* * *

**• Day 5 of The Assignment •**

The next morning, Iris woke up in Barry's bed. She forgot for a split second about the events of the night before. She looked down at herself and she had nothing but a shirt on that wasn't hers, by the size and smell of it. it smelled like Barry. 

She rolled over and Barry wasn't even anywhere to be found.  _Might've skipped out on me..._

She checked her phone for the first time since last night at the club.

As she turned it on, the only notification popped up.

**6 Missed Calls, 10 Text Messages.**

_Oh, fuck._

Iris realized that she never told Linda she was going home with Barry. And since she didn't, Linda got to worrying and thinking the worse.

She quickly called her back, half expecting Linda to be asleep, cranky, mad at her, or some combination of the three. 

Linda answered on the second ring.

_"Iris?! Dude, what the hell happened last night? You never came back to the room and I started assuming the worst."_

"Linda. I'm fine," Iris whispers. She doesn't know if Barry's downstairs or upstairs or even in the house. Either way, she can't take any chances. "I went home with Barry last night,"

_"What? Oh, my God. Did you sleep with him?"_

"If I say yes, are you going to judge me?"

_"That depends on if you actually did it or not,"_

Iris sighed. "Yeah. I may have,"

She can hear Linda sigh over the phone.  _"Iris..."_

"Don't say it, Lin. I know. I know. This is bad,"

_"No shit! I'm not mad at you, though,"_

As Iris was about to say something else, she spotted a card on his bedside table. She turned around and checked to see if Barry was coming up the stairs and by the looks of it, she was in the clear. She quickly grabbed it to see what it was.

_Oh, my God._

"Linda..." Iris says.

_"What? What's wrong?"_

"I found my ID," she starts.

_"That's good. You don't sound so excited about it. Was it in your wallet or something?"_

"No. Barry had it," Iris says.

 _"Oh, shit,"_ Linda says. _"You don't think..."_

"The last time I had my ID was before we left for the shootout. I didn't have it when we got back,"

_"That means you dropped it while we were there, and Barry had to have seen it and picked it up,"_

Iris started to panic a little. "Now, he definitely knows who I am,"

_"You have to get out of there, Iris. Barry's not an idiot. He will put two and two together,"_

"Wait. Wait, just a moment," Iris says and calms down a bit.

_"What?"_

"He found my ID, but that only means that he knows who I am. Not what I do, or why I was there,"

 _"You're right. But, that also means you have to lie if he asks anything,"_ Linda says.

"I know," Iris says.

Just as Linda is about to say something else, Iris sees a shadow coming up the stairs. 

"Um, Linda. I've got to call you back," she says and before Linda can respond, Iris hangs up the phone. 

Barry comes into the room with nothing but his boxers on. A wave of déjà vu came over Iris. She feels like she's been here before. 

"Iris, hi," Barry says in a cheerful mood, "you're awake. That's good. I made breakfast, and there's extra in case you're hungry," 

"Thanks, but why aren't you shoving me out the door? Throwing me my clothes and telling me to get out?"

"Damn, Iris. What do you take me for?" he chuckles.

 _A target._ "A playboy,"

"Fair enough. Be that as it may, I'm a respectful playboy," he says, still standing by the doorframe.

Iris finds herself staring at him. He's so attractive, it's no wonder girls fall all over him and want him so much. 

"Iris," Barry says, taking her out her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"It's not polite to stare," he says, smirking. He says that but he's loving the attention, and he knows it. It's written all over his face.

"I wasn't staring at you.” Iris quickly hides the ID in her phone case when he’s not looking.

"If that's what you wanna believe." he comes around the bed, "So, about last night..."

"What about it?"

"Well, first of all, it was amazing. Second, I think I've figured something out about myself,"

"Really? What's that?"

"These past few days, I've been seeing you everywhere. Literally. First my party, then the clubs, I never seem to escape you, Iris,"

As he's talking, she's getting increasingly more and more worried. He's starting to sound like he knows what's going on.

"This is all true," she says warily. With the way he's sounding, she may have to dodge a couple of questions and lie a little, but, she sucks it up and deals with it.

_Anything for the mission, right?_

He speaks again. "At first I thought it was weird, but now, it's gotten to a point where it's weird for me  _not_ to see you,"

"A simple case of mere-exposure effect, I'm sure," she says.

"I think it's more than that, Iris," he says.

"Well, what can I say, Barry? I guess we have similar tastes," Iris bluffs.

"I've realized that I want to be able to see you all the time," he continues.

"All the time? I'm not - I don't really know what you mean,"

"I want to date you, Iris. I like you," he admits.

"You barely know me, Barry. Aside from having sex with me, I guess,"

He shrugs with a smile. "Every time I see you, it feels like I do,"

His smile was contagious. It was so big and so genuine. His smile made her feel content, ironically, and she can't help but smile back at him.

"I may just have to take you up on that one, Barry Allen."

He smiled that million-dollar smile yet again. Just then, Iris got a notification on her phone. A text from Linda.

LINDA: Now would be a good time to get that file. Henry left and there's no one there

_Perfect._

"Barry, do you wanna do me a favor?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Take me back to my hotel. I've got to meet my friend for...something,"

"Yeah, be happy to. Get your clothes on. I'll take you back." He gets his own pants and shirt on and grabs his keys. "I'm downstairs when you're ready," and with that, he leaves her alone once more.

As soon as he's out of earshot, she sighs loudly. 

 _Dammit, Iris._ _I'm supposed to kill him, and yet, here I am, in his bed, and I just agreed to date him._

As she gets her own clothes on, she's starting to wonder how in the hell she ended up here. 

_Maybe my dad was right...maybe I'm not competent enough for this. If I would have just ignored the feelings and not let them get this strong, things might be different..._

Since she first laid eyes on him, she's been having to remind herself: _Barry is a target. Barry is nothing but a target._

It shouldn't be that hard to remember. It's never been before. And there's no reason that there should be, now.

And yet, as time passes, it's getting harder and harder to remember that.


	11. First Date

"Pull up here," Iris says to Barry as he comes upon the hotel.

He stops near the entrance and she gets ready to get out. "Thanks for the ride," 

"No problem. You know, I never got your number,"

"Good point." She takes his phone from the cupholder and puts the number of her regular phone in it.

As she does that, he takes his phone back and she gets ready to open the door.

"Will I see you later?" he asks quickly before she gets out.

"You just might, Barry. You just might." She then winks at him before closing the door and strutting back into the hotel. 

When she made it back, she gets back to the room and greets a very apprehensive Linda.

"Well, well, well," Linda says as she walks through the door. She didn't even look up.

"Don't say it. I know. I should be ashamed," Iris rolls her eyes as she ducks off into the bathroom and washes her face.

"Not even close to what I was going to say. You _know_ what I'm about to say," Linda replies.

"That I'm putting my life in danger and that I need to stop before I get in too deep?" Iris asks.

"Yes. You can't forget that you have to kill Barry, eventually,"

Iris winces, almost visibly when Linda says that. 

"I know. But I feel like I deserve to have a little fun with this. You know, while I can, I guess,"

"Oh, my God," Linda says softly.

"What?" Iris asks.

"You have feelings for Barry," Linda says, almost sounding astonished.

"What? I do not! I'm just attracted to him. I just -"

"- have feelings for him and want to be with him,"

"Not true,"

"Really? None of that is true?"

"I might like him a little bit, but that's it," 

"Iris. You know what this is going to lead to," Linda starts to warn.

"Listen, Lin. I can handle this. Just promise me you won't say anything to anyone?"

"You have my word. But just be careful, Iris. I have a feeling that this can and will get very crazy very fast,"

"Trust me. When have I ever been in a situation I couldn't handle?" Iris says confidently.

Linda doesn't respond.

Just then, Iris gets a text from an unknown number. 

UNKNOWN: Barry here. So, about what I asked earlier...

She quickly saves his number and returns his text.

IRIS: Barry Allen. I'll tell you what, I'll go on a date with you

BARRY: Really? Didn't expect that...how's tonight then? 8:30?

"Do we have anything important to do today?"

"Well, as I said before, we  _could_ go and get that file you'd wanted, but other than that, no." Linda shakes her head. "Why're you asking?"

"Oh, no reason..." Iris' voice trails off as she shoots another text to Barry.

IRIS: You got it. See you later.

"Oh, no. There's a reason." Linda hops up. "Quit lying,"

"I may or may not being going on a date with Barry,"

Linda rolls her eyes. "Why'd I even feel the need to ask?"

"Jesus, Linda. Why are you so against this?" Iris asks, slightly defensive.

"Iris. It's not that I'm against it, I just -"

"What? What is it?"

"I just don't want you to get hurt. You're playing with fire, here. You _know_ you are. And if you're not careful, you could get hurt or worse,"

"I've been telling you this forever, Linda. I can take care of myself. I know what I'm doing. I would think you'd be more supportive of this,"

"You're not hearing me. It's not about me being supportive or not. You're putting yourself in danger by doing this. You both are. And if Joe finds out -"

"It's not going to come to that," Iris interrupts.

" _If_ Joe finds out, I don't wanna know what could happen. You and Barry are doing something pretty damn dangerous here. One day you might even have to tell him..."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it,"

Linda nods, but inside she knew that this, whatever Iris and Barry were and are going to become, had the potential to end in absolute disaster.

Iris knows that Linda is right. But something kept pulling her towards Barry. What that something is, she didn't know yet. But Linda has a feeling that if she isn't careful, it will be the thing that gets her killed her in the end...

 

They get ready to head back over to the apartment, lockpicks, gloves, and guns at the ready. Always have to be prepared for the worst.

As Linda and Iris pull up to the apartment, all is quiet. It's almost hard to believe that a shootout has just taken place twenty-four hours later, and they were definitely in the thick of it.

When they pull up, Henry's car isn't there. "Alright, I'm going in," Iris says just before opening the car door. "You good?"

Linda nodded with a thumbs up. "Good,"

Iris nods and quickly leaves the car and heads in the apartment. 

"They did a good job of cleaning up this place after what went down," Linda hears Iris speak on the headset.

"I'm surprised anyone cleaned it up at all, really," Linda responds.

"Almost can't tell there was a huge massacre," Iris says as she goes up the elevator.

 _"Almost,"_ Linda chuckles. 

As she walks around, she's almost surprised to see that there was no police tape around.  _People died here, yesterday. Do they really not care this much?_

As the doors open to the floor, the overwhelming feeling of being watched overtakes her once again. Being up there again doesn't make this feel any less creepy and any less dreadful.

As she came to the door, she brings out her lockpick and quickly opens the door. 

She peaks her head in and quickly surveys the scene. 

The entire apartment looks like a tornado hit it twice. Files and pictures are everywhere, guns are strewn about, and there's even some blood in some places and on things.

"Jesus Christ," Iris says, astounded.

"What? What do you see?"

"This trainwreck of an apartment," she responds as she walks around, careful not to touch anything or step on anything.  _I want to leave this place almost exactly how I found it._

"Do you see the file in all the junk?" Linda asks.

"Hell no. There's so many files and papers her that it could be anywhere, now."

"Well, we got time. Get to searching and I'll keep watch," 

Iris gets her gloves on and starts at the desk. The last time she saw the file, it had no markings or words on the outside of it, but between then and now, that could have changed.

She had to be careful to not move things too much. As she lifted papers and pictures, nothing of importance was standing out. She moves on to the drawers and quickly files through pictures and papers once more. On the off chance that the file would be alphabetized, she hits up the J and W section of the drawers. 

"Find anything yet?" Linda asks, occasionally looking around for any signs of anyone she wasn't supposed to see.

"Nope. Nothing yet," Iris says, focused.

"Alright. Everything's good from this end," Linda says.

Iris doesn't respond, looking through the ridiculous amount of files in the drawer. She passed through the J's and didn't find anything, so she skipped through to the W's.

She's almost completely through when she sees  ** _WEST, JOESEPH_** on one of the files.

"I got something!" Iris says suddenly.

"Okay, grab whatever you can and let's go. I've got a feeling that Henry is going to be back soon,"

Iris wasn't sure what was relevant and what wasn't, so she just grabbed everything. Hopefully, Henry wouldn't care to just randomly look for anything related to him. If he did, Iris knew that she and Linda - and maybe even Joe himself, would be royally fucked.

But that was a chance that she would just have to be willing to take.

Iris takes everything she can see about her father and even steals a pistol and closes the drawer back up, making sure to leave everything exactly how she found it. 

She hurries and gets back down to the car and gets in.

As they take off for the hotel, Iris puts the file in the back.

"You see anything else while you were in there?" Linda asks.

Iris takes the stolen pistol from her waistband. "This,"

Linda looks down and her eyes widen. "Did you steal that?"

"Hell yeah. It's a Glock nineteen. My favorite," Iris says, putting it away.

Linda chuckles. "I would say put it back, but it's not like they'll notice just one gun missing,"

"True. It was an absolute wreck in there, though. I even saw some blood. It's a wonder how Henry gets anything done in there with it looking like it does,"

Linda shrugs. "He'll probably clean it up. After all, a shootout did just happen a day ago,"

"All I know is, I wanna see what's in this file. What the hell could Henry even know about my dad?"

"Maybe they were friends too, once upon a time," Linda suggests.

"Maybe. Maybe my dad worked for Henry,"

"If that's true, Joe either disappeared or he must have been let go without problems,"

"I'd be leaning towards the former, not the latter. I just don't know what they could have to do with each other,"

"This might explain why your dad was acting so weird about Barry needing to die. They might be enemies,"

"I don't know," Iris says. 

As they make it back to the hotel, Iris grabs the file from the backseat and they head up.

When they get there, Iris opens the file and lays everything out on her freshly made bed.

There were papers, pictures; the entire dossier was almost  _too_ extensive.

The pictures all had timestamps. "Some of these pictures date back as far as ten years ago. The most recent one is dated about eight months back from this day,"

Linda comes over to get a closer look. "All of these are candid photos,"

As Iris stares some more, she's starting to notice. "Yeah, it's like he's being spied on. I wonder if he knew Henry had these..."

Linda picks up a few. "You're in some of these. Looks to me like he was spying on both of you,"

"You think Barry knows?" Iris asks her, hoping her answer would be no.

"It's hard to tell right now. Why would Henry want to spy on you and Joe?"

"Maybe they had something going on under the table that no one ever knew about,"

"What's that something?"

"I have no idea. None of this is adding up. I think there's more to this. There's gotta be," Iris says. Linda agrees, but they can't quite figure out what that is yet.

"This is a lot to take in," Linda admits. "Your dad has never even mentioned Henry before," 

"Maybe that's on purpose,"

"What are you getting at?"

"Michael just comes out of the blue and asks us to kill Barry. Barry is Henry's son. Dad and Henry  _obviously_ had _something_ going on at one point in time. To add icing to the cake, he suddenly flew off the handle about Barry and how he absolutely needs to die,"

Linda nods, not saying a word. She's trying her hardest to think back to a time where Henry might have been mentioned by Iris' father or even her late mother before she passed.

She couldn't think of anything at the moment, but she could feel that something just wasn't right about the entire situation.

Maybe Barry had something to do with it, and maybe he didn't. Iris prayed that it wasn't true, but a part of her had a feeling.

"What if Barry has anything to do with this?" Linda looks over to Iris.

That was the one question Iris didn't want to ask or hear. But even she knew that it was a possibility.

One way or another, they needed answers. 

* * *

**_•_ _8:15 p.m. •_**

"Well? How do I look?" Iris steps out of the bathroom with her dress on and makeup done.

Linda's eyes widen. "Damn, girl. If I didn't already have my eyes on someone else, I'd try to smash you myself,"

Iris laughs. "Thanks. You think Barry's gonna like it?"

"Most definitely. You could wear nothing but a baggy T-Shirt and a bonnet and he'd have heart eyes,"

"Really? You think so?" Iris asks as she heads back into the bathroom to take the rollers in her hair out.

"Yes. You look great," Linda responds as she eats some popcorn.

As she takes the rollers out, she starts to think about Barry. About how one day, she really will have to kill him. But she doesn't want too.  _There's got to be another way._

She's barely known Barry a day or so and she's already experiencing this level of attachment. Maybe it's just infatuation, but it feels like more than that. 

_Barry's not going to die. Not if I have anything to do with it._

Once Iris was done, she grabbed her phone to shoot Barry a text. To her surprise, though, he'd already texted her.

BARRY: Omw. Ready?

IRIS: Yeah, text when you're here.

She sets her phone down and quickly grabs a pair of heels to put on. Linda looks down and notices this.

"Damn, Iris. You going on a date or to a wedding?"

"What? Is it too much?"

"Nah," Linda laughs "I'm just teasing. You look great. And I think Barry's gonna love it," 

"Thanks," Iris smiles. 

She laid on the bed and watched TV with Linda while she waited for Barry. She wasn't so much worried about how she looked, she was more worried about if she was too overdressed.

Soon, she felt her phone vibrate once again.

BARRY: I'm here. On my way up

IRIS: I can come down

BARRY: Stay right where you are. Tell me your room number and I'm on my way up

IRIS: 624, 6th floor

"You leaving?" Linda speaks up. 

"Nah," Iris replies, "He's coming up  _here,"_

"Really?" she asks.

Iris nods. A few minutes later, a knock on the door sounded. When she goes to answer the door, Barry's standing there in a black tuxedo. 

"Wow," Barry says, and his eyes absolutely widen the minute he lays eyes on Iris.

"Hi," Iris says with the exact same shock and surprise.

"You look...amazing," Barry says with a huge smile. He takes a rose from behind his back and gives it to Iris.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Barry," Iris says as she takes it and sniffs.

She sets her rose down on her bed and gets back to the door.

He's absolutely blown away by her.  _God, she's stunning._

"Barry," Iris says, taking him out of his thoughts.

He shook his head quickly. "Yeah?"

"Ready to go?" she asks with a shy smile.

"Definitely." He holds his arm out for her to grab.

"Alright. Bye Lin!" She calls just before she closes the door. Linda waves goodbye just as the door closes.

"So, where are we going?" Iris asks as they make their way down to the car.

"We're going to this place called Perch. I made a reservation for us," Barry answers.

Iris felt flattered. All this, just for her? 

She nods to him. "Sounds good,"

On the way there, Barry's driving and occasionally Iris looks over at him. Looking at him driving made her oddly more attracted to him. He could do the simplest things and she'd be just so smitten over him.

He notices her out of the corner of his eye and smirks a bit. "You okay over there, Iris?"

Barry saying this took her out of her trance. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine," she nods.

He chuckles. "You look amazing, you know that?"

Her cheeks flush. "Hardly,"

"No, don't try to sell yourself short. You look stunning," he says as he grabs her hand and kisses it.

She blushes even more. "You're a real charmer, Barry Allen," she whispers.

"I try, Iris," he says quietly.

In the ten minutes it takes them to get there, Iris was getting increasingly nervous. She was excited too, though. And how did Barry feel? Was  _he_ as nervous as she? Her hands started to sweat and get clammy.  _Cool it, Iris._ _Calm yourself down._

When they pull up, Iris is kind of shocked at the setup. She expected fancy, but this, not even she expected.

As soon as he took the keys out of the ignition, Barry looked at her. "Don't get out, yet," he says. 

"What?" she chuckles nervously.

"Don't get out," he says simply, and without another word and in one swift motion, he gets out and comes around and opens Iris' door for her. 

She gets out, eyeing him the whole time. "Barr, I can open my own door," she says.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean I'm going to let you," he says with a smile as he holds his arm out for Iris to link up with.

She smiles at him as she links arms with him and they stroll in. The restaurant is relatively packed tonight; many people on dates of their own with a couple of groups here and there.

Iris quickly surveys the room as they walk up to the hostess. Barry speaks to her first, "Hi, reservation for two, please? Last name, Allen,"

After the hostess types a few things on her computer, she looks back up and smiles at the two of them. "Of course! Right this way, please,"

As she leads the way to their table, with every passing moment, Iris feels like a million bucks in  _every_ sense of the word. She looked great, felt great, she didn't think anything would go wrong.

"Here you are," the hostess stops and Barry pulls Iris' chair out for her and he sits as well. 

She places two menus in front of them as she smiles at them both. "Here are your menus, and a server should be right with you. Enjoy your meal," the hostess says and they thank her right before she goes dashing off back to her post. 

"This place is really, really fancy," Iris says as she's glancing at the menu.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is it too fancy? We can go somewhere else if you want too. Did you want -"

Iris laughs to cut him off. "Barry. Calm down, hun. You're fine. This place is fine. I'm just saying that because, well, I was worried that I would be too overdressed, but now I know I dressed perfectly,"

He smiles at her. "You look amazing. In anything. Anywhere," 

Before Iris can respond, or even make sense of what he just said, a waitress appears. "Hello, my name is Ashley. I'll be your waitress tonight." She takes out a pen and paper. "Would you guys like to start with anything to drink?"

Barry looks to Iris first expectingly. "Oh, um, I'd like a glass of wine, please,"

"Which wine would you like, miss?"

"Malbec red wine, please," Iris says politely.

"Of course." The waitress writes the order down and then turns to Barry. "And for you, sir?"

"I'll take the Lolita cocktail. Extra lime, please," Barry replies.

The waitress takes down his order. "Would you guys like any appetizers to start?"

Barry looks at Iris to answer. "Do you want any appetizers?" 

She shakes her head. "I'm good,"

"We're fine," Barry says to the waitress. 

"Do you know what you want for your main dish?" she asks.

"I don't. Can we have a few minutes to look some more?" Iris speaks.

"Sure thing. Take your time," the waitress answers and she walks away to go to another table.

Iris turns towards Barry. "I can't pronounce half of the things on this menu, Barry," she chuckles.

"I can't either. French isn't one of the languages I'm fluent in, unfortunately. But I know the food here is good!"

 _He speaks different languages?_ "One of?" she asks.

"Oh, yeah. Other than English, I'm fluent in three other languages. Spanish, Italian, and German. I can have a basic conversation in French, enough to get by, but nothing fancy,"

Iris can tell he's bragging but she is still slightly impressed. She could only speak Spanish and Arabic herself, which was good too, but she didn't expect Barry to speak other languages.

She nods at him, smiling a bit.

"I'd like to get to know you a little bit better, Iris. What do you do for a living?"

_Oh, shit. What am I gonna tell him? That I kill people for a living?_

"I have a really, really interesting job," Iris says vaguely.

"What is it?" he asks.

"Let's just say that I've killed people and I'm pretty damn good at it," Iris replies.

Before Barry can respond, the waitress comes back with two glasses, one with wine and one with a cocktail. "Here are your drinks," the waitress says as she sets the drinks down at their respective sides.

"Thank you," they both say. 

The waitress takes out her pen and paper again. "Do we know what we want yet?"

"I'll take the Chicken Supreme, please," Iris says with a smile.

"And, I'll have the Filet Mignon Au Poivre," Barry says after.

The waitress takes down their orders. "Excellent choices. Your food will be ready soon," she says and she turns and walks away.

When she's out of earshot, Barry speaks to Iris again. "So, what was that about you killing people?"

Iris was getting a little nervous. But she kept it cool. "I've killed people," 

"So, what? You're like a CIA agent or something?"

"Not exactly," Iris replies.

"Just tell me. What am I gonna do with the information?" he asks nonchalantly and shrugs.  _Except use it._

_But, hopefully, Barry never puts two and two together._

"I'm a hitwoman," Iris answers.

Barry chuckles, thinking Iris is kidding. But when she doesn't laugh with him, he instantly stops. "Oh, you're serious?"

Iris nods. "Very," she picks up her glass and takes a sip.

"That's really interesting," he says. "You gonna kill _me_?" he chuckles.

For a moment, Iris gets upset.  _Oh, Barry, if only you knew..._

But she laughs a little because she has to remember that Barry is none the wiser.

"Oh, no. Of course not," she replies, and for once, she actually believes herself. "What do  _you_ do, Barry?"

"Me? I do a lot of things. I'm mostly a playboy, though. But you know that already," Barry smirks.

"I do, don't I?" Iris says.

"That's the first time we - sort of - met. Remember?" he asks.

"How could I forget?"  _I stole your files from right under you and you never even noticed. Of course, I remember._

"I'm starting to rethink this whole playboy thing, though," Barry says.

"Are you now? Why's that?"

"Well, I might be a playboy, but I'm also loyal. Up until now, I hadn't found anyone that I wanted to be loyal enough to, to settle down with," he starts explaining.

"Up until now?" Iris asks.

"Yeah. But, I've got a feeling that that's changing,"

"Who's the special person you're changing for, Allen?" Iris asks with a smirk.

"Oh, Iris. You're not stupid. You know it's you," Barry smirks right back at her.

"You never know. You could have someone else on the side,"

"Never," he shakes his head quickly.

Of course, she knows that Barry's talking about her, but she wants to actually hear him say it. Or see him say it.

He smiles at her again, and she can't help but smile back. Any time he looked at her, she felt butterflies in her stomach. He always seemed to be happy and smiling with her around. 

As they sat there, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other's company, Iris completely forgot about the fact that she is supposed to kill Barry. She forgot that he was a target. 

Being here with Barry was what felt right to her. This was what felt like was supposed to happen. And as per usual, she never wanted their time together to end.


	12. Betrayal

During their date, Barry and Iris never run out of things to talk about. One of them would get to talking about their childhood and the other would just stare and listen so attentively. They could talk all night and they would never run out of things to talk about.

But while all of this is happening, Iris can't help but feel the impending feeling in the pit of her gut that something's wrong.

She knows she likes Barry, and she likes him a lot; that much is true. And she knows he at least likes her a little bit, but this feels wrong.

She feels like she isn't supposed to be doing this; that she's betraying herself. Betraying some part of her that knows this is wrong.

She'd taken an oath to herself and to her father when she began this life that she would never fall for a target, or anyone even remotely associated with this life. She knew that if she was going to fall in love, it absolutely couldn't be with someone like Barry Allen. If it had to be Barry Allen, let him be something like an accountant, or a CSI, or maybe even a reporter.

_And yet, here we are._

She hated this feeling and wanted it to go away but she didn't even know where it was coming from. If Michael or her father or anyone associated with either of them ever found out about them even speaking, they'd both have her and Barry dead in seconds.

Iris has been telling herself since she first met Barry that she didn't want to kill him. She wanted that million dollars, but if it meant killing him...she wasn't so sure if it was worth it anymore. She wanted to believe that she didn't _want_ to fall in love with her target, she wanted to believe that she didn't enjoy every moment she was around him, and she even wanted to believe that she doesn't feel something real for Barry and that this is just infatuation and once he dies, all feelings will just vanish and go away. She wanted to believe it so bad.

But at this point, if she tried to tell herself, Linda, or even Barry that, it would only be a lie. She feels something for him. Staring at him while he was being so lively and smiling and talking to her and just being himself, she lives for that. It brings her a different kind of happiness that she's never felt before. 

The entire time it was happening, she didn't want it to ever end. She wanted to able to see that every day. She wanted to be the  _reason_ he was smiling so big and wanted to be the reason for his happiness, among other things of course.

"You know something, Barry?" she asks him as he gets his wallet out to pay for the bill.

"What's that, Iris?" 

"I really like you," Iris admits aloud.

Barry's face turns a bit. "Well, I would hope so," he chuckles. "Surely, you didn't agree to go on date with me because you  _don't_ like me," he says.

Iris nods, "Yes, well," she clears her throat, "I mean I  _really_ like you. As in, I would want to date you, exclusively,"

Barry is shocked as he takes out his debit card. He didn't expect Iris to say that so soon. 

"As in, a relationship?" he asks.

She nods. "As in a relationship,"

"Iris, I -"

"Do you not feel the same way?" she asks. "Have I been reading this entire situation wrong?" 

"No, no!" he exclaims embarrassingly loudly before lowering his voice again. "I feel the exact same way," he smiles slightly.

Iris smiles back, a genuine one, and as he sets his card on the bill, and gives it to the waitress, she looks around the dining room absentmindedly. 

Soon, her eyes land near the front of the restaurant. There, standing near the hostess stand and the front door, a cell phone in his hand and a gun - albeit not hidden very well - on his waist, staring right at Iris and Barry was none other than Leonard Snart. Joe's second in command in the long line of executioners he possesses under him.

_Oh, dear God._

"Um, Barry, we have to go,  _right now,_ " Iris says quickly as she darts her gaze down. They've been made. If they don't leave right now, this can and will turn extremely ugly in a few short seconds.

She starts looking around frantically. Leonard's blocking the only main exit out of the restaurant. 

_There's got to be another exit..._

As she looks past Barry and into the kitchen, she sees a door that's a straight shot from their table. From what she can see, it has a doorknob that locks with a key.  _Surely, it stays awake during open hours._

And of course, from where she can see, it's unlocked.  _It needs to stay that way._

"What's wrong?" he says as he turns his head towards the same direction as Iris'.

But she stops him. "Barry. Hey. No. Don't look over there. Just keep on looking at me," Iris insists.

"What? I don't understand. What's -"

"Barry. Do you trust me?" she asks, keeping his gaze.

"Yes," he says and nods without a second thought.

"Then listen to me, very carefully. The waitress is almost to us. The minute she hands you your credit card, you need to get up and make a break right behind you towards the kitchen. Straight behind us is an exit through the kitchen. Do you have a remote starter for your car on your keys?"

"Well, yeah, but - "

"Good. The minute we're close enough, start it, and unlock the doors," she says, glancing quickly at the entrance at Leonard. "We're going to need it,"

"Iris, what the hell is -" Barry starts, but Iris cuts him off again. 

"Barry," she interrupts, "I will answer any questions you have once we're far enough away from here. For now, I just need you to trust me and listen to me. When I nod at you, you run for the kitchen exit and you don't stop. I'll be right behind you, I promise," Iris says. 

She reaches down into her purse and grabs her gun. She quickly checks the number of bullets she has and turns the safety off.

Barry's confused and even a little scared. Is there someone after him? More importantly, he thought, is there someone after Iris?

_How the hell did dad know I was here? No one else knew where else we were going except Linda and she would never tell him that I was on a date with Barry..._

She looks over at Leonard again, he's on the phone with someone, staring right at Iris now. Her eyes dart over to the waitress as she's only a couple of feet from the table. 

When she gets to them, she hands Barry his receipt and card. 

"Thank you so much," Barry says as he gathers his things to make a beeline for the kitchen.

"You're very welcome. Enjoy the rest of your night," the waitress says. As soon as she turns away, Barry and Iris lock eyes again.

_Alright, Iris. Get ready..._

Leonard hangs up the phone, and as soon as she sees him, in the same second, she nods at Barry. In a split second, and in what seemed like slow motion, Barry hops up and takes off for the door.

She brings up her gun as she stands and fires off two warning shots, meaning to hit the glass behind him.

_One. Two._

The shots ring out and glass breaks. As soon as people realize what's going on, there's screaming everywhere. She heard cussing. People were going wild. But all Iris can think about is keeping Barry alive and making sure he gets out the door.

"Oh my God, they have guns!" is heard in the background as Iris doesn't take her eyes off of Leonard for a millisecond.

Leonard points his gun at Iris and is about to shoot when she fires off three more rounds near and around him. 

_Three. Four. Five._

The third bullet grazes his ear and he doubles back in pain. She takes this opportunity to book it for the kitchen exit as he quickly tends to his wound.

Even in heels, Iris can run like the wind.

When she pushes open the door, the cool air strikes her face as she turns right and sees the parking lot, with Barry getting in the car just as she makes a break for it.

As she's running across, Leonard sees her from where he's standing and fires off two more shots. She hears the first one barely zoom past her, and the second one misses her entirely as she ducks and dodges.  _Come on, come on. Just a couple more feet._

Iris flings open the door and before she can even close it behind her, Barry's putting it in reverse and getting the fuck out of dodge. 

While he's burning rubber like there's no tomorrow just to get back to his house, Iris is turning around every few seconds to make sure they aren't being tailed by anyone. She's not even panicking, but she's slightly confused.

She can tell Barry's been a getaway driver before - his driving is impeccable given the circumstances and high stakes. He isn't even scared or tense. He's a goddamn professional.

When they were far enough away, about two minutes from his house, he finally opens his mouth to speak again. "Iris,"

She looks over at him. "Yeah, Barry?"

"What the  _fuck_ was that?!"

Iris almost wanted to be completely and totally honest with Barry in that very moment; she wanted to just lay it all out on the line right there. But she knew...it just could never be that easy.

"Remember when I said I've killed people?" she asks as he pulls into his estate.

"Yes,"

"Well, just as I've killed people, people wanna kill me too," 

"And I'm guessing that whoever that was, he's one of them," Barry sighs.

"I guess you could say that, yeah," Iris nods.

"So he was after you and not me," he says, almost sounding like he was asking a question. 

"Right," she replies.  _Wrong._

Leonard was definitely after the both of them. There's no doubt that he was sent by Joe to kill Barry and at least distract or decapitate Iris enough so she couldn't stop him.

Iris almost felt bad. Her and Leonard weren't friends, per se, but they'd had an understanding for one another. Leonard worked for Joe and had a business-related relationship with him, so by association, he was always on good times with Iris. It always seemed like he liked Iris just a bit more, though...

"Good. The reason why I ask is that..."

Iris looks at him for a moment. He looks as if he has something he wants to tell her, but isn't quite sure if he should.

"That?" Iris asks. She has a feeling she knows exactly what he wants to say. He wants to tell her something, but unbeknownst to him, she knows exactly what that something is.

"Well, remember when  _I_ said that I've done a lot?" he asks.

Iris nods. "Yeah,"

"I've killed people too," he admits.

Even though Iris is completely aware of this, she has to pretend that she had no clue. "You _what?"_

"I also have killed people." He says as they get out of the car. 

"Like murder?" she asks.

"Yeah. Exactly like that,"

Iris can’t even be mad; she’s literally the daughter of a mob boss. If she were upset, she’d be nothing be a hypocrite. But she knows exactly who he is and knows that he’s killed people. It wasn’t news to her, but she had to act as if it was.

They make their way to the front door, and while Barry gets his keys out, Iris pulls her phone out to call Linda. She has _got_ to know what just went down.

When she calls her, Linda answers after quite a few rings.

_"Hello?"_ she sounded like she’d just woken up from a nap.

"Linda. It’s me. We just got attacked," Iris says.

_"You what?!"_ Lindais instantly awake now.

"Let me start from the beginning," Iris starts.

_"Are you guys okay?!"_ Linda asks frantically before she can begin.

"Yeah, we’re fine. Let me explain," Iris says as they walk in. She walks to the bathroom to get some sort of privacy. "We were about to leave when Leonard came in. He was after Barry," she says the last part in almost a whisper.

_"Leonard Snart?"_ Linda asks.

"That’s the one. He knew where we were. He came in and almost shot Barry. But we pulled a _Mission: Impossible_ to get him out of there,"

_"Alright. And you guys are okay?"_ Linda asks.

"We’re fine, but Linda..did you hear what I said?"

_"What?"_

"He _knew_ , Linda. He knew where Barry and I were. The only other person who knew where I was going and what I was doing tonight was you, and I know you didn’t tell," Iris begins.

_"Yeah,"_ Linda agrees.

"So, that could only mean my dad knew," Iris concludes.

_"Knew where you were going?"_

"Yeah," Iris says, trying to think of just how the hell he could have known. 

But, then it hit her.

She remembers that she took _both_ cell phones with her tonight, just in case.

"Hang on," she says quietly.

She put the one she was talking with Linda on in between her shoulder and took the other one out to check her growing-by-the-passing second suspicions.

_Please let me be wrong, please let me be wrong..._

She turned the phone around and broke the back off of it. _Thank God for Androids, I guess._

_"What’s wrong?"_ Linda asks when Iris doesn’t speak.

"Wait a sec," she says, and just as she finishes speaking, she takes the back off of the phone and takes out the battery. 

She inspects the battery, and it’s fine. Upon closer inspection, the SD card is also clean. As she stares a little harder, she sees that there’s a tiny tracker that's beeping red in one of the crevices of the back of the phone. 

"Holy fucking shit," Iris says, a mix of shock, anger, and disbelief in her voice.

_"What? What’d you see?"_

"I didn't wanna be right, but...he put a tracker in my burner phone. He fucking bugged me!" Iris starts to yell but quickly quiets herself down.

_"So that’s how he knew. He’s been tracking you!"_

In a swift move, Iris crushes the tiny tracker between her index finger and thumb and throws it in the toilet, flushing it behind her.

She quickly washes her hands out of habit and then dries them. As she leaves the bathroom, she sees an increasingly worried Barry outside on his couch.

While still on the phone with Linda, she speaks again. "Dammit. Lin, do you know what this means?"

_"What?"_

"We’re not safe. You need to throw away your burner right fucking now. He probably has that shit bugged as well." She feels herself getting angrier at her father with each passing second.

She hears some shuffling on Linda’s end and she’s quietly panicking.

_What the fuck?! Does he know I’ve been with Barry? Does he know that we’re seeing each other? How long..._

_"Iris, we have to pretend like we don't know,"_ Linda says.

"Dude, what? How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

_"You've done it before, haven't you?!"_

"Well, yeah, but that was small stuff like bringing a boy home when he wasn't there or stealing some money from out his wallet or accidentally shooting a hole through the wall. Not a goddamn tracker bug," Iris sighs.

Barry looks up at her, a confused and scared look on his face. Iris didn't know why he felt this way. She knows he's faced worse. But to him, she's none the wiser.

_"Are you staying with Barry for the night?"_ Linda asks, almost knowing the answer before even asking the question.

Iris looks over at Barry, who's now on his own phone as well. If he's texting anyone, it's probably Cisco.

"Yeah, I'm here for the night. Probably not safe for me to be out right now," Iris says so as to try to make up an excuse, but her and Linda and even an overhearing Barry can sense that she's bluffing.

"Sure, Iris," she could practically hear Linda rolling her eyes through the phone.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Lin. Be careful," Iris says with a slight laugh.

"You be careful too. Love you," Linda responds.

"Love you too. Bye," Iris replies as she hangs up the phone. 

For the first time she got in the door, she looks at Barry. "So..."

"So?" he looks at her expectantly.

"Well, I'm staying with you tonight," Iris says.

"Yeah, I heard. That's fine with me," Barry shrugs.

"Good," Iris nods. "You, um, you okay?"

He breathes a heavy sigh. "No," he shakes his head.

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know. I was just on an amazing date with an amazing woman, things were great and then someone comes in with an intent to kill me," Barry replies.

Iris sighs.  _Not now. Not yet._

"I know, and I'm really, really sorry about that," Iris says.

"No, no. I'm not mad at you. This is just a lot to be taking in. I've never been attacked in a public place before. People in the criminal underworld are usually smarter than that," Barry says, the last part seeming as if he was talking to himself.

"Wait, wait. What?" Iris asks.

"People in the criminal underworld. They're usually patient," Barry starts.

"Well, yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with -"

"He didn't wait. He attacked you - me - well, us, in public. In plain sight. The smart ones wait until there are minimum witnesses, and most of the time, they make sure that the possibility of witnesses is eliminated completely," Barry speaks some more, faster this time. He seemed to be putting things together. 

_He can't find out. Not yet. Not like this..._

"Yeah, that's true," she said out loud.

"And if he didn't wait and disregarded the witnesses entirely, then that could mean one of three things. Either he's really dumb - like, incredibly dumb - or he was desperate, or he was _told_ to cause a scene," Barry finishes.

Iris is quiet again for a moment, in her own thoughts once again.

_Leo is smart. He knows for a fact that shit gets done better when there's no one around to snitch about it. He does his best to leave no witnesses and no casualties. Even when he has to shoot at people who aren't his target, he shoots to strike fear or inhibit, but never, ever to kill._

_So if he knows and does all of that, then..._

_Oh, God._

"He knew exactly what he was doing. He came at us in public like that to prove a point. He came to send a message. I know Leonard. If he wanted to shoot at me and kill me, he would have shot first. But, he didn't." Iris sits down next to Barry.

Iris is trying to put all of this together in her head. Barry is too. They're within their own thoughts. 

_Leonard aimed his gun at me. He didn't even aim it at Iris at first. She shot first..._

He wants to believe her when she said that Leonard was only after her. He really does. But the skilled and calculated criminal in him knows it's never that easy. _Nothing_ here is adding up.

"Iris, this isn't adding up. None of this is adding up," Barry says aloud with a shaking head.

She silently agrees. It was moments like this where she wished she could just scream that she is the daughter of a mob boss and she was contracted to kill the very man who, ever since she's been here, she's felt something for. It's to the point that the thought of killing him makes her feel so nauseous.

She hates the fact that she feels as if there was a part of her that she is betraying. She feels like she's betraying herself.

For so long, she's never let anything like this happen and the fact that it has now scares her. Her old self would never, ever, _ever_ let feelings get in the way of the mission.

Her family - this lifestyle - shaped her to be this ruthless, cunning killer. And for a while, that's what she believed herself to be. That and  _only that._

All her life, this is all she's known. She was praised for just how ruthless and cunning she was.

Mainly by her father. Sometimes by Linda. _But Mom..._

Almost instantly, she feels tears well up in her eyes.  _No. Not now..._

She quickly wipes her eyes and gets herself together.

_Dammit._ Iris wanted nothing more to just tell him. With every passing second, she wanted to tell him. Finally, tell him without any lies or hiding anything. She felt as though she was gonna burst. With each passing second that she was looking at him, she got more and more upset at the fact that she has to kill him. She doesn't want to. But if she can't do it...

_"I'll see to it myself that he dies, Iris..."_

She shakes that thought out of her head as quickly as it comes.  _It won't come to that. I can't. I won't let it._

_God, Barry. I just wanna tell you how I feel. How you really, truly make me feel. I just wanna tell you what's going on._

_But, I can't._


	13. Plus One

**_•_ _10:45 p.m._** _**•** _

"Do you want to sleep on the couch, the guest bedroom, or in my bed with me?" Barry asks Iris.

"Your bed," Iris replies quickly, trying her best to not sound  _too_ eager about it.

He smirks at her. "Excited, are we?"

_Dammit._ "No. Your bed is comfortable," she replies, but even she knows that's a lie, and Barry can see right through that.

Iris realizes that she still has her shoes on. In a couple swift motions, the heels come off and she lets out a tremendous sigh of relief.

Barry chuckles at her. "Feet hurt?"

"I _ran_ in these, tonight. That's how it be sometimes," she replies.

"You're a damn superhero for that," Barry says, going to the kitchen.

"How?" 

"You ran in heels! Heels are a pain enough, and you practically booked it to the car," Barry says as he grabs himself some wine.

"I've done this before," Iris says.

"I can tell," he nods. "Want any wine?" he asks. 

"Yeah. Give me a glass. All the way full," 

"You got it, boss," he replies.

As she waits, Iris sits back and tries to forget about her dad for just a minute. But she can't, not even for a moment.  _He really bugged me. Bugged his own daughter._

She glances over at Barry who's on his own phone, not really paying too much attention. She wished that she could separate her feelings from the job. The crazy part is, she usually can. She's typically great at it, even. With any target, too.

Even if she finds a target attractive, whether it's a man or a woman, she  _always_ separates feelings from the job. 

But Barry Allen is not just any target. He's...him.

Seeing him smile; the little squint that he does when he laughs. His teeth showing by default when he smiles big at his happiest but then him quickly closing his mouth when he realizes his teeth are showing. The rambling he does when he talks about something he loves - she loved that. How smart he was about the things he was passionate about.

Lord, did she enjoy hearing him talk about something he loved. His face lights up, he gets happy; it's like he's a little puppy.

And Iris falls for him a little bit more every time.

"Hey, Barry," Iris says for the first time in a few minutes.

He looks at her. "Hey, Iris," he says in the same tone.

"I'm really sorry about tonight," 

"Hey, no. Don't apologize. I had an amazing time with you." he says coming over to sit by her with both glasses in his hands.

As he hands it to her, she gets a good look at him once again.

_God, he's handsome._

"You did?" she asks.

"Definitely. I'd do it all again," he replies, and oddly enough, she actually believes him.

"You know, I bet you do this with all the other girls you've fallen for,"

"What other girls?"

Iris is a little speechless when he says that. Surely, Barry has brought home girls before.

"You're telling me you've never brought home a girl before?"

"Oh, I most definitely have. But I have never asked any one of them to go on a date with me, never have let them sleep in my bed more than once, and have never wanted to be in an actual relationship with them. So, what I said still stands." He takes a sip of wine when he finishes.

Given the circumstances, Iris is actually pretty calm. Being around Barry calms her down. He doesn't have to say or do anything; his presence alone is enough to soothe her worries. She forgets she even has them.

Iris downs half of her glass in a couple minutes flat. As she drinks, she finds herself staring at Barry even more. 

"What?" he asks with raised eyebrows and a slight smirk on his face.

She shakes her head a little. "You're just really handsome," 

He sets his glass on the table in front of them. "You are," he says as he gets closer to her, "Not so bad yourself,"

Barry got so close to Iris that their lips were mere centimeters apart.  _Kiss me. Please, just kiss me._

As soon as she finishes that thought, he kisses her. His lips are as soft as they always are, yet pulling her into him even more. She leans in more and deepens the kiss even more. He tasted like wine, and she absolutely loved it. Never wanted it to end.

His hands went to her legs and pulled her closer to him. She moves with his hands and ends up on top of him, straddling him.

"Damn, I love this view," he says, making her laugh and blush at the same time.

"I think I love mine a little bit more," she says with a smile as she leans down and kisses him some more, harder and with more passion than before.

She knew that Leonard was after her, and her father probably knows that she might be seeing Barry now. She’s gonna have to confront this, one way or another.

She wonders if her father is gonna confront her first, though.

As they’re making out, Barry’s phone vibrates. He’s getting a call.

Iris takes the hint to get up and off of him, but he pulls her back before she can get all the way off. He takes his phone out of his pocket and checks the caller.

_Cisco._

“Give me a second,” he says. “Hello?”

Iris can’t hear what Cisco is saying on the other line, but when she looks down, Barry’s dick is hard and it’s showing through his pants.

_I wanna have some fun._

She’s sitting on his lap when she starts moving on his dick. He’s so turned on by her that he actually enjoys it. He’s doing his best not to moan while on the phone.

”You wanted to know what now?” He asks Cisco, doing his best to concentrate, but can't because of Iris working her magic on him.

She bends down to his neck and starts kissing and sucking on it, and he can barely contain himself. His eyes are rolling back in his head.

"Yeah, yeah, definitely," he says, talking to Cisco. He's working double time just to make sure Cisco can't tell what's going on.

As he's trying to very lightly push Iris off of him with his free hand, his attempts are futile. He knows he doesn't want her to stop. He can never, ever resist her.

She's unbuttoning his pants but before she can pull them down, he grabs her wrist and mouths the words "not yet" before speaking to Cisco again.

"We're fine, dude," he says.

A few seconds of silence and then he speaks again. "Alright, I will. Be careful. Love you, man," and after that, he hangs up the phone.

"Damn, Iris!" he says to Iris as he tosses his phone onto the table.

She laughs. "What? Can't blame _me_ for  _your_ attractiveness,"

"I know, but just...damn," he shakes his head. "Down girl," he smirks at her.

"I don't think you're really complaining," Iris says as she resumes where she left off. 

He simply shakes his head in silence as she pulls his pants and boxers down. 

She takes his already-rock-hard dick into her hands and sticks his tip into her mouth, swirling her tongue on it and going slow.

The minute she does that, he's moaning her name. 

As she gets faster and faster, sticking more of him into her mouth, he's biting his lip and his eyes are just begging for more with every passing second.

She wanted to make him cum for her. She wanted to pleasure him like he did so effortlessly with her. 

She slurped on his dick more and more, getting more of him in her mouth each time she went down. He wanted to control his moans, but he couldn't. He wanted her far too much and he wanted - no, needed - her to know how much he was enjoying her.

As she went down some more, all he could do was sit and enjoy his view. She was going so slow and he was fucking loving it.

It felt better than before; it felt as though they - their bodies - were in sync with each other. It was as if they  _responded_ to one another in perfect harmony.

He grabs her head and shoves it down quicker some more on his dick, making her deepthroat it and gag. He was so big, she thought, that it would bring tears to her eyes.  _But momma ain't raise no quitter._

She loved it when he shoved it down her throat; it turned her on when he took control of her like that. She wanted it down her throat. She wanted to feel him cum in her throat so she could swallow it. And deepthroating was making her makeup run, but she didn't even care. 

He took her head off of his dick and pulled his own pants up. 

"What's wrong?" she asks in confusion. 

"Sit on the couch and spread your legs for me," is all Barry says and she gets on the couch from the floor.

"Wh-what?" she asks.

"Spread. Your. Legs." Barry moves to switch places with Iris and he pulls her towards him aggressively.

When she doesn't comply - because she wants  _him_ to do it - he forces open her legs and stares at her with a devilish look in his eyes. Just that look alone makes her wet for him.

He sees that her panties are already wet, and he can't wait to get down there and start  _feasting_ on her pussy. He wanted to taste her, make her squirm for him.

He pulls down her panties, just about rips them off to get to finally get eat her out.

As he stares at her beautiful pussy, he can't help but admire it at first.  _God, she's beautiful..._

And without another word, he bends his head down and starts licking. She's moaning quietly at first, and he's going slow.

He started sucking on her clit a little bit and her moans get louder and louder. He wasn't perfect, not a God or anything, damn was he good. 

He looked up at her and stared at her while eating her out, getting faster and faster with each second. 

The eye contact between the two of them - she loved it. She could see it in his eyes that he wanted to pleasure her just as she did him.

They wanted to please each other to the fullest extent. And that's exactly what they were going to do. 

* * *

**• Day 6 of the Assignment •**

Iris wakes up early the next morning with the same shirt she had on when she woke up in Barry's bed the first time. This time, though, she woke up and his arms were wrapped around her.

She smiles. She felt safe here, here, in this moment with him. She was too comfortable to move.

She tried to move a little, but his protective grip tightened around her waist. 

"Barr," Iris says in a quiet voice, turning around to face him.

She smiles hugely as she sees that he has the cutest bedhead and squinty eyes as the light shines in the room.

"Iris," he smiles at her. 

"Good morning," she sighs lightly.

"It is now," he replies, smiling himself.

She felt so warm under the covers, snuggled up right next to him. It was the simple things that made her happy.

She didn't want to move. If she could, she'd lay here forever with him.

"Do you wanna go get coffee with me?" Barry asks as he wakes up a little more.

"What? Right now?" Iris asks, a little bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Maybe," he says.

"I'm not a morning person at all. Plus, I look like shit right now,”

"Aw, please? For me?” Barry asks and makes a pouty face.

"Oh, you’re evil! How could I say no to that oh-so-cute face?!” Iris exclaims.

Barry laughs. “That’s the idea, dear,”

"'Dear?' You’re calling me all these names as if I'm your girlfriend, Mr. Allen,"

"I'd enjoy it if you were,"

"But, I am not," Iris sighs.

"Should I not? It’s no problem. But you sure waited a while to make _that_ announcement,” 

"I’m only kidding. I’d appreciate a formal request, though,"

"Fair enough. Iris, would you -"

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, they felt a vibration in the bed. Someone's phone was ringing. 

They quickly looked under them and between them and as it turns out, it was Iris' phone. 

It was exactly who she  _didn't_ want it to be.

_Dad._

She quickly looked at Barry, who was looking at her, and she put on the best voice she could.

She quickly sent him to voicemail, shortly realizing after that he probably  _knows_ she sent him. She should have just let it ring.

"What's all that about?" Barry asks apprehensively. 

"What? Me not answering?"

He nods at her.

She decided to just tell the truth. "My dad and I aren't on good terms right now," She hoped he would just leave it at that, but the curiosity and desire to pry further was written all over his face before he could say it to her.

"What happened?" he asks.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, Barr," Iris replies, but even she doesn't believe herself when she says that. But he doesn't need to know that. 

"Iris," Barry says again. She looks over at him with squinting eyes.

"Hmm?" she makes the noise.

"I think there's something going on," he says.

_Why does he have to ask so many questions?_

"There is. But I promise it's not that big of a deal,"

As he opens his mouth to talk again, Iris' phone buzzes again with a call. It's Joe again. 

She takes a heavy sigh and answers him after the third ring.

"Unless you're dying, you better not be calling me for no reason," Iris says. Barry looks at her with wide eyes. He isn't used to hearing someone talk to their parent that way. Not as a grown-up, anyway.

_"That's no way to talk to your father, now is it Iris?"_ she hears Joe talk just a second later. Hearing his voice alone made her blood boil. 

She wanted to reply, "Yeah, the same father that bugged and tracked his own daughter." 

But of course, like always, she kept her mouth shut on that subject.

"What do you want, dad?"

_"I just wanted to call you and apologize for my...outburst, the last time we talked,"_

She wants to believe that his apology is sincere, but she can't. He was probably only covering for the fact that Leonard pulled up to a whole restaurant and attempted to assassinate Barry and incapacitate Iris. She didn't know who was gonna bring that one up at the family dinner, but it sure was hell not gonna be here.

"Hm," she made a noise. 

_"Do you forgive me?"_ he asks.

"I would if it was genuine,"

_"Genuine?"_

"Look, dad, I've got to go. If this isn't important then I really must be going. Gotta figure out my game plan for..." Iris' voice trailed off when she remembered where she is and who she was in the presence of.

_"For?"_

She ignores him. "I've got to go figure out what I'm going to do, seeing as how I'm incompetent and I need to get my head in the goddamn game," Iris says, throwing complete and total shade at the words her father spewed at her not too long ago. 

She heard him sigh over the phone. She knows she upset him, and may have even hurt his feelings, but she can care less. How she probably made him feel wouldn't even begin to measure up the hurt  _he_ made  _her_ feel. So as far as she's concerned, he can be mad and stay mad.

When he didn't respond, she spoke again. "I'll talk to you later," and without another word, she hung up.

It felt good, but she felt bad at the same time. The thoughts of betrayal towards her father, towards everything she ever worked for, invade her mind again. They were happening way more than usual, now.

She felt as though everything was falling apart, yet falling together at the exact same time.  _God, Barry Allen. You will be the death of me._

Sometimes she wishes she had a normal life. A normal job with normal friends and a normal family.  _Normal._

But if things were normal, she wouldn't have even had the chance to have done half the things that she's done in her life. 

Iris got up to use the bathroom. As she moved, Barry's phone rang too.

_Cisco._

"Hey man, what's up?"

_"Barry, did you remember the wedding?!"_ Cisco asked.

"What?! Wedding? What the fuck? Who -" as he thought about it, he remembered that his friend Ronnie was getting married today. He'd forgotten  _all_ about it.

_"Ronnie's! It's today. In, like, three hours dude,"_ Cisco says in a panicked voice. Barry checks the time. It's ten minutes until noon.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Barry hops up and goes to his closet.

_"He wanted us all to bring a plus-one, right?"_

"Yeah, but I don't think I have anyone," Barry replied.

At that moment, Iris walks back in from the bathroom.

"Me either. Unless I ask Cynthia," Cisco suggests, talking more to himself than to Barry.

"Cynthia has always had the hots for you, dude," 

_"She does not! We'd only be going as friends. What about you, though?"_

Barry looks up at Iris. "I might just have someone," he says.

_"Oh, dude. You don't mean..."_

"What? Seriously, tell me it's not a good idea,"

_"It may not be, Barry. Given what’s been happening, you sure this is the right call?”_

”We’re about to find out,” he says, and Iris raises an eyebrow at him.

"Um," Iris starts, "Everything okay?"

"Let me call you back," Barry says and then hangs up the phone.

Barry then asks the question. "Will you go to a wedding with me?"

Iris is shocked. A wedding? She wasn't expecting that. 

"A wedding?" she asks aloud.

Barry nods, slight excitement in his eyes. "A wedding,"

She thinks for a moment.  _Don't get too ahead of yourself, now._ "Who's getting married?"

"My friend, Ronnie." he gets up as he says that, going to his closet. 

She quickly scans in her head if she remembers reading about a Ronnie.  _Ronnie, Ronnie..._

"Raymond," she says to herself.

"What was that?" Barry asks.

"Oh - nothing! Do they have specific colors that they want guests in?" 

Barry takes a moment before responding. "No, come in whatever color you'd like," 

Iris sighs. "I don't really have a good dress to wear to a wedding. If we're going, you need to take me home now so I can get ready,"

Before she can even get the word "ready" out all the way, Barry flies out of the closet and down the stairs at record speed. 

"Ready when you are!" she hears him call from down the steps.

She hops up and gets her things together.  _Guess I'm going to a wedding._

_**• 12:27 p.m. •**_

"You're really going to a wedding with him," Linda says. 

"Yes, Linda, I am. Now help me," Iris says, and Linda rolls her eyes and continues curling Iris' hair as she applies her makeup.

Just then, Iris' phone buzzes with another text from Barry.

BARRY: Ready?

She quickly shoots him a text back.

IRIS: No, and I hate you for making this so short notice Barry Allen

"How long we got?" Linda asks.

"Barry said the wedding starts at three. We've got a little over an hour, maybe,"

Linda hears that and nods. "So," she starts, "Ronnie Raymond, huh?" Linda says.

"That's the one," Iris replies.

"He's the one whose dad is some world-renowned doctor," Linda says, recalling all that she read from Barry's file.

"Yup. So you  _know_ they're loaded,"

"Where's the wedding at?"

"Camarillo Ranch," Iris replies.

"Camarillo?! That's an hour away with _good_ traffic!"

"Which is why I'm getting ready now so we can get on the road sooner rather than later," Iris responds.

Linda nods. "Need backup?"

"Yeah, but how are you gonna get in? Surely they have a guest list, and you're not on it," Iris says.

Linda looks at her in the mirror and smirks. "Iris, honey, you forget who you're talkin' too."

Iris smiles after her. "Correct. Silly me. How are you getting in this time?"

Linda shrugs. "Might break a camera and sneak in through a back door. Might distract the person manning the door. Haven't decided yet. All depends on how I'm feeling," 

"How're you getting there?"

"Probably'll just get an uber." Linda shrugs.

"Might wanna schedule that uber, like, now,"

"You're right," Linda says as she sets down the curling iron and goes to find her phone. 

As she does that, Iris finishes up with her makeup and hair.

Her phone buzzes again just then. 

BARRY: Ready mamas

IRIS: Just about, come on up

BARRY: Omw

"Barry's on his way up here," Iris calls from the bathroom. Before she hears a response, she hears the shuffling of papers and folders and then a distant "Okay," from Linda not too long after.

As she grabs her dress to put it on, the door sounds with a knock. 

Linda goes to open the door as Iris gets her dress on.

"Hi, Barry," Linda greets him.

"Hi! Linda, is it?" he asks.

"How'd you know?" she responds.

"Lucky guess," he shrugs as he steps further into the hotel room and closes the door behind him. 

"Just a sec, Bar," Iris calls from beside her bed. She's getting her earrings on.

"That's -" he starts to speak, but the sight of her coming around the corner made him stop short with what he was about to say.

As usual, Iris is stunning. He takes in her full figure, taking note of every perfection. Her hair was beautiful, makeup on point, the dress she has on does nothing but enhances her beauty, hell,  _everything_ she wears enhances her beauty. 

She stops in front of him. "Ready?" she asks with a smile.

He shakes himself out of his trance and nods his head. "Yeah. Let's go," he opens the door and lets Iris out first, shooting a goodbye nod at Linda before they depart.

As they walk down the hallway to the elevator, Barry looks down at Iris' shoes. "Sure you wanna ear those to a wedding? Gonna be on your feet all night," 

Iris dismisses that with a wave. "Piece of cake. Plus, I brought flats in here this time around. I'm smart,"

"We don't have to worry about anybody gunning for us, do we?" Barry asks with a nervous laugh.

Iris chuckles. "Well, I don't know, Barry. Do we?" she asks with a wink.

He laughs along with her, but in the back of his mind, he's really wondering. He didn't want a repeat of their first date to happen at Ronnie's wedding. Because if it did, he wasn't sure how it would play out this time around. He wasn't sure he wanted to find out this time around, though.

_**• 2:25 p.m. •**_

When Barry and Iris arrive at the venue, there are at least a couple hundred people there already. The line of cars getting in is outside the venue.

"Damn, Ronnie must have a big family, doesn't he?" Iris asks as they walk in and she surveys the scene. 

She was looking at all the entry and exit points of the venue, trying to see if she couldn't make a hasty escape if the need arose. 

It was looking pretty clean from all sides. As they stood in line, Iris looked up at Barry. Even in heels, he towers over here at least another whole foot. She tries not to stare too hard, but god _damn_ is he attractive in that suit he had on. 

She almost wanted to jump on him right then and there. But she shoves those feelings down quickly. As quickly as the thoughts enter her mind, she felt bad about even thinking them.

As if it's instantaneous, she suddenly gets a queasy feeling that something isn't right with this. The same feeling that intrudes on her at least once every time she's around Barry. 

As if on cue, her purse starts to vibrate. She prays to heaven above that it isn't who she thinks it is. As she pulls out her phone, her stomach sinks. 

Her dad's name and the picture she set as his contact picture pops up on the screen. For some reason, she feels as though she can't bring herself to answer. In a quick motion, she sends him to voicemail.

As they get in and look around, the venue is stunning. High ceilings, expensive-looking chandeliers, and the guests are in some sort of designer dress or suit. Barry and Iris included.

They walk in and as they find their seats, an older woman walks up to them as they sit down. 

Barry looks up. "Mrs. Raymond!" he exclaims and stands up to hug her. 

She hugs him back and as they pull away, Iris awkwardly smiles and stands.

"Iris, this is Mrs. Raymond. Ronnie's mother," Barry introduces them.

"Nice to meet you," Mrs. Raymond states as she holds out her hand for Iris to shake.

"Likewise," she says as she shakes her hand.

Mrs. Raymond turns to Barry. "I need to ask you a favor, Barry," 

"Sure, anything," Barry says.

"One of the groomsmen for Ronnie came down with dreadful food poisoning. He thought he could pull it together for the wedding but he's in the back there throwing his guts up as we speak. Do you think that maybe you could..."

"Um, Mrs. Raymond, I'm not sure if I should -"

"Barry. Please. Ronnie wanted you to be a groomsman anyway. But when he asked you, you told him you couldn't,"

"Good point. Go to tell Ronnie I'll be back there in five," Barry nods and speaks.

"We'll need you in three,"

"Then I'll be there in two,"

Mrs. Raymond nods without another word and he turns to Iris. "Looks like I'm a groomsman, today,"

"Alright. I'll still be back here," Iris replies.

"You gonna be okay back here on your own?"

"I'll be good. Hurry, they need you," Iris says and Barry smiles at her before heading back.

More and more people file in and take their seats. Iris sees Linda and she comes over and sits with her for a bit, hoping to God that no one looks too hard and realizes that she shouldn't be here. Hopefully, people would just chalk her up to being a friend of a friend and just leave it at that.

The wedding starts and the whole thing is beautiful. Barry's the fourth groomsmen down and to Iris, he looks devastatingly handsome as per usual. 

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the holy matrimony of Ronald Raymond and Caitlin Snow," the officiant starts.

Ronnie and Caitlin each share their vows to each other and everything goes off without a hitch.

"If anyone has any reason why these two should not wed, speak now or forever hold your peace,"

The altar was quiet, with no one objecting. 

"You may now kiss the bride!" the priest says happily and Ronnie and his now-wife kiss passionately. Barry smiles at them and then smiles at Iris, and she's clapping and smiling right back at him. 

For the first time in her life, Iris feels something similar to a  _normal_  life.


End file.
